The Disenthralled
HE had bowed down to drunkenness,An abject worshipperThe pride of manhood's pulse had grownToo faint and cold to stir;And he had given his spirit upTo the unblessed thrall,And bowing to the poison cup,He gloried in his fall!
There came a change--the cloud rolled off,And light fell on his brain--And like the passing of a dreamThat cometh not again,The shadow of the spirit fled.He saw the gulf before,He shuddered at the waste behind,And was a man once more.
He shook the serpent folds away,That gathered round his heart,As shakes the swaying forest-oakIts poison vine apart;He stood erect; returning prideGrew terrible within,And conscience sat in judgment, onHis most familiar sin.
The light of Intellect againAlong his pathway shone;And Reason like a monarch satUpon his olden throne.The honored and the wise once moreWithin his presence came;And lingered oft on lovely lipsHis once forbidden name.
There may be glory in the might,That treadeth nations down;Wreaths for the crimson conqueror,Pride for the kingly crown;But nobler is that triumph hour,The disenthralled shall find,When evil passion boweth down,Unto the Godlike mind.
Words in this poem
- abject a.
- Cast down; low-lying. [L. abjectus, p. p. of abjicere to throw away; ab + jacere to throw. See Jet a shooting forth.]
- unblessed a.
- Not blest; excluded from benediction; hence, accursed; wretched. [Pref. un- not + blessed, blest.]
- gloried a.
- Illustrious; honorable; noble. [See Glory.]
- shook v. t.
- To pack, as staves, in a shook.
- conscience n.
- Knowledge of one's own thoughts or actions; consciousness. [F. conscience, fr. L. conscientia, fr. consciens, p.pr. of conscire to know, to be conscious; con- + scire to know. See Science.]
- pathway n.
- A footpath; a beaten track; any path or course. Also used figuratively.
- olden a.
- Old; ancient; as, the olden time.
- 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,]
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
The Disenthralled 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, The Disenthralled, 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/the-disenthralled.html, id L24958.
Form and metre
The Disenthralled is 40 lines in 5 stanzas of 8 lines each. The metre is iambic trimeter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 93%).
See other poems in iambic trimeter.
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.
- 1 ----ABAB drunkenness · worshipper · grown · stir · upA · thrallB · cupA · fallB
- 2 -A-A-B-B off · brainA · dream · againA · fled · beforeB · behind · moreB
- 3 -A-A-B-B away · heartA · oak · apartA · pride · withinB · on · sinB
- 4 -A-A-B-B again · shoneA · sat · throneA · more · cameB · lips · nameB
- 5 -A-A-BAB might · downA · conqueror · crownA · hour · findB · downA · mindB
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 trimeter. How this is done.
| Line | Syl. | Stress |
|---|---|---|
| HE had bowed down to drunkenness, | 8 | ·····/˘˘ |
| An abject worshipper | 6 | ·/˘··· |
| The pride of manhood's pulse had grown | 8 | ···/···· |
| Too faint and cold to stir; | 6 | ······ |
| And he had given his spirit up | 8 | ···/·/˘· |
| To the unblessed thrall, | 5 | ····· |
| And bowing to the poison cup, | 8 | ·/˘··/˘· |
| He gloried in his fall! | 6 | ·/˘··· |
| There came a change--the cloud rolled off, | 8 | ········ |
| And light fell on his brain-- | 6 | ······ |
| And like the passing of a dream | 8 | ···/˘··· |
| That cometh not again, | 6 | ·/˘·˘/ |
| The shadow of the spirit fled. | 8 | ·/···/˘· |
| He saw the gulf before, | 6 | ······ |
| He shuddered at the waste behind, | 8 | ·/˘····· |
| And was a man once more. | 6 | ······ |
| He shook the serpent folds away, | 8 | ···/˘·˘/ |
| That gathered round his heart, | 6 | ·/˘··· |
| As shakes the swaying forest-oak | 8 | ···/˘/˘· |
| Its poison vine apart; | 6 | ·/˘·˘/ |
| He stood erect; returning pride | 8 | ··˘/˘/˘· |
| Grew terrible within, | 6 | ·/˘˘·· |
| And conscience sat in judgment, on | 8 | ·/˘··/˘· |
| His most familiar sin. | 6 | ··˘/˘· |
| The light of Intellect again | 8 | ···/˘·˘/ |
| Along his pathway shone; | 6 | ˘/·/·· |
| And Reason like a monarch sat | 8 | ·/˘··/·· |
| Upon his olden throne. | 6 | ···/˘· |
| The honored and the wise once more | 8 | ·/˘····· |
| Within his presence came; | 6 | ···/˘· |
| And lingered oft on lovely lips | 8 | ·/˘··/˘· |
| His once forbidden name. | 6 | ··˘/˘· |
| There may be glory in the might, | 8 | ···/˘··· |
| That treadeth nations down; | 6 | ·/˘/˘· |
| Wreaths for the crimson conqueror, | 8 | ···/˘/˘˘ |
| Pride for the kingly crown; | 6 | ···/˘· |
| But nobler is that triumph hour, | 9 | ·/˘··/˘/˘ |
| The disenthralled shall find, | 6 | ······ |
| When evil passion boweth down, | 8 | ·/˘/˘··· |
| Unto the Godlike mind. | 6 | ···/˘· |
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