Paean
This poem indicates the exultation of the anti-slavery party in view ofthe revolt of the friends of Martin Van Buren in New York, from theDemocratic Presidential nomination in 1848.
Now, joy and thanks forevermore!The dreary night has wellnigh passed,The slumbers of the North are o'er,The Giant stands erect at last!
More than we hoped in that dark timeWhen, faint with watching, few and worn,We saw no welcome day-star climbThe cold gray pathway of the morn!
O weary hours! O night of years!What storms our darkling pathway swept,Where, beating back our thronging fears,By Faith alone our march we kept.
How jeered the scoffing crowd behind,How mocked before the tyrant train,As, one by one, the true and kindFell fainting in our path of pain!
They died, their brave hearts breaking slow,But, self-forgetful to the last,In words of cheer and bugle blowTheir breath upon the darkness passed.
A mighty host, on either hand,Stood waiting for the dawn of dayTo crush like reeds our feeble band;The morn has come, and where are they?
Troop after troop their line forsakes;With peace-white banners waving free,And from our own the glad shout breaks,Of Freedom and Fraternity!
Like mist before the growing light,The hostile cohorts melt away;Our frowning foemen of the nightAre brothers at the dawn of day.
As unto these repentant onesWe open wide our toil-worn ranks,Along our line a murmur runsOf song, and praise, and grateful thanks.
Sound for the onset! Blast on blast!Till Slavery's minions cower and quail;One charge of fire shall drive them fastLike chaff before our Northern gale!
O prisoners in your house of pain,Dumb, toiling millions, bound and sold,Look! stretched o'er Southern vale and plain,The Lord's delivering hand behold!
Above the tyrant's pride of power,His iron gates and guarded wall,The bolts which shattered Shinar's towerHang, smoking, for a fiercer fall.
Awake! awake! my Fatherland!It is thy Northern light that shines;This stirring march of Freedom's bandThe storm-song of thy mountain pines.
Wake, dwellers where the day expires!And hear, in winds that sweep your lakesAnd fan your prairies' roaring fires,The signal-call that Freedom makes!
Words in this poem
- presidential a.
- Presiding or watching over.
- nomination n.
- The act of naming or nominating; designation of a person as a candidate for office; the power of nominating; the state of being nominated. [L. nominatio: cf. F. nomination.]
- dreary a.
- Sorrowful; distressful. [OE. dreori, dreri, AS. dreórig, sad; akin to G. traurig, and prob. to AS. dreósan to fall, Goth. driusan. Cf. Dross, Drear, Drizzle, Drowse.]
- pathway n.
- A footpath; a beaten track; any path or course. Also used figuratively.
- morn n.
- The first part of the day; the morning; -- used chiefly in poetry. [OE. morwen, morgen, AS. morgen; akin to D. morgen, OS. morgan, G. morgen, Icel. morginn, morgunn, Sw. morgon, Dan. morgen, Goth. maúrgins. Cf. Morrow, Morning.]
- darkling a.
- Becoming dark or gloomy; frowing.
- forgetful a.
- Apt to forget; easily losing remembrance; as, a forgetful man should use helps to strengthen his memory.
- repentant a.
- Penitent; sorry for sin. [F. repentant.]
- shall v. i.
- To owe; to be under obligation for. [OE. shal, schal, imp. sholde, scholde, AS. scal, sceal, I am obliged, imp. scolde, sceolde, inf. sculan; akin to OS. skulan, pres. skal, imp. skolda, D. zullen,]
- vale n.
- A tract of low ground, or of land between hills; a valley. [OE. val, F. val, L. vallis; perhaps akin to Gr. Avalanche, Vail to lower, Valley.]
- fatherland n.
- One's native land; the native land of one's fathers or ancestors. [Imitated fr. D. vaderland. See Father, and Land.]
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
Paean is in the public domain. This text is taken from Anti-Slavery Poems and Songs of Labor and Reform, Complete Volume III of The Works of John Greenleaf Whittier, Project Gutenberg ebook #9580; the transcription's header, footer and licence were removed and nothing else was changed. You may copy, print and reuse it freely.
Cite as: John Greenleaf Whittier, Paean, in Anti-Slavery Poems and Songs of Labor and Reform (1865), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #9580, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/whittier-anti-slavery/paean.html, id L24883.
Form and metre
Paean is 59 lines in 15 stanzas. The rhyme scheme is ABAB, complete in 12 of its 15 stanzas. The metre is iambic tetrameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 92%).
See other poems in iambic tetrameter.
Measured by Laurel's pipeline, not copied from a handbook: how stress and metre are counted, how rhyme is lettered, how a drifted rhyme is found. Where the dictionary cannot confirm a rhyme the letter is withheld, not guessed.
Rhyme words, stanza by stanza
The word that ends each line, lettered by the rhyme it makes; a dash is a line whose rhyme the dictionary could not confirm.
- 2 -A-A forevermore · passedA · o'er · lastA
- 3 ABAB timeA · wornB · climbA · mornB
- 4 ABAB yearsA · sweptB · fearsA · keptB
- 5 ABAB behindA · trainB · kindA · painB
- 6 ABAB slowA · lastB · blowA · passedB
- 7 ABAB handA · dayB · bandA · theyB
- 9 ABAB lightA · awayB · nightA · dayB
- 10 ABAB onesA · ranksB · runsA · thanksB
- 11 ABAB blastA · quailB · fastA · galeB
- 12 ABAB painA · soldB · plainA · beholdB
- 13 ABAB powerA · wallB · towerA · fallB
- 14 ABAB fatherlandA · shinesB · bandA · pinesB
- 15 ABAB expiresA · lakesB · firesA · makesB
Scansion, line by line
Each line with its syllable count and the stresses the words themselves fix: / stressed, ˘ unstressed, · a syllable the word leaves free and the metre decides. Read against iambic tetrameter. How this is done.
| Line | Syl. | Stress |
|---|---|---|
| This poem indicates the exultation of the anti-slavery party in view of | 21 | ·//˘········/˘/˘/˘··· |
| the revolt of the friends of Martin Van Buren in New York, from the | 17 | ·˘/····/˘·/˘····· |
| Democratic Presidential nomination in 1848. | 13 | ·˘/˘·˘/˘·˘/˘· |
| Now, joy and thanks forevermore! | 8 | ········ |
| The dreary night has wellnigh passed, | 8 | ·/˘··/˘· |
| The slumbers of the North are o'er, | 8 | ·/˘····· |
| The Giant stands erect at last! | 8 | ·/˘·˘/·· |
| More than we hoped in that dark time | 8 | ········ |
| When, faint with watching, few and worn, | 8 | ···/˘··· |
| We saw no welcome day-star climb | 8 | ···/˘··· |
| The cold gray pathway of the morn! | 8 | ···/···· |
| O weary hours! O night of years! | 8 | ·/˘/···· |
| What storms our darkling pathway swept, | 8 | ··//˘/·· |
| Where, beating back our thronging fears, | 8 | ·/˘·//˘· |
| By Faith alone our march we kept. | 8 | ··˘//··· |
| How jeered the scoffing crowd behind, | 8 | ···/˘··· |
| How mocked before the tyrant train, | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| As, one by one, the true and kind | 8 | ········ |
| Fell fainting in our path of pain! | 8 | ·/˘·/··· |
| They died, their brave hearts breaking slow, | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| But, self-forgetful to the last, | 8 | ··˘/˘··· |
| In words of cheer and bugle blow | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| Their breath upon the darkness passed. | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| A mighty host, on either hand, | 8 | ·/˘··/˘· |
| Stood waiting for the dawn of day | 8 | ·/˘····· |
| To crush like reeds our feeble band; | 8 | ····//˘· |
| The morn has come, and where are they? | 8 | ········ |
| Troop after troop their line forsakes; | 8 | ······˘/ |
| With peace-white banners waving free, | 8 | ···/˘/˘· |
| And from our own the glad shout breaks, | 8 | ··/····· |
| Of Freedom and Fraternity! | 8 | ·/˘·˘/˘˘ |
| Like mist before the growing light, | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| The hostile cohorts melt away; | 8 | ·/˘/˘·˘/ |
| Our frowning foemen of the night | 8 | //˘····· |
| Are brothers at the dawn of day. | 8 | ·/˘····· |
| As unto these repentant ones | 8 | ····˘/˘· |
| We open wide our toil-worn ranks, | 8 | ·/˘·/··· |
| Along our line a murmur runs | 8 | ˘//··/˘· |
| Of song, and praise, and grateful thanks. | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| Sound for the onset! Blast on blast! | 8 | ···/···· |
| Till Slavery's minions cower and quail; | 8 | ·/˘/˘/·· |
| One charge of fire shall drive them fast | 8 | ···/···· |
| Like chaff before our Northern gale! | 8 | ····//˘· |
| O prisoners in your house of pain, | 8 | ·/˘····· |
| Dumb, toiling millions, bound and sold, | 8 | ·/˘/˘··· |
| Look! stretched o'er Southern vale and plain, | 8 | ···/˘··· |
| The Lord's delivering hand behold! | 8 | ··˘/˘·˘/ |
| Above the tyrant's pride of power, | 9 | ···/˘··/˘ |
| His iron gates and guarded wall, | 8 | ·/˘··/˘· |
| The bolts which shattered Shinar's tower | 9 | ···/˘··/˘ |
| Hang, smoking, for a fiercer fall. | 8 | ·/˘··/˘· |
| Awake! awake! my Fatherland! | 8 | ˘/˘/·/˘· |
| It is thy Northern light that shines; | 8 | ···/˘··· |
| This stirring march of Freedom's band | 8 | ·/˘··/˘· |
| The storm-song of thy mountain pines. | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| Wake, dwellers where the day expires! | 9 | ·/˘···˘/˘ |
| And hear, in winds that sweep your lakes | 8 | ········ |
| And fan your prairies' roaring fires, | 9 | ···/˘/˘/˘ |
| The signal-call that Freedom makes! | 8 | ·/˘··/˘· |
The reader shows the same poem with its rhymes coloured and a stress row above each line, the notes beside their stanzas, and any word's definition on a tap; the analysis page takes the whole book apart. How every part of this site was made.