The Haschish
OF all that Orient lands can vauntOf marvels with our own competing,The strangest is the Haschish plant,And what will follow on its eating.
What pictures to the taster rise,Of Dervish or of Almeh dances!Of Eblis, or of Paradise,Set all aglow with Houri glances!
The poppy visions of Cathay,The heavy beer-trance of the Suabian;The wizard lights and demon playOf nights Walpurgis and Arabian!
The Mollah and the Christian dogChange place in mad metempsychosis;The Muezzin climbs the synagogue,The Rabbi shakes his beard at Moses!
The Arab by his desert wellSits choosing from some Caliph's daughters,And hears his single camel's bellSound welcome to his regal quarters.
The Koran's reader makes complaintOf Shitan dancing on and off it;The robber offers alms, the saintDrinks Tokay and blasphemes the Prophet.
Such scenes that Eastern plant awakes;But we have one ordained to beat it,The Haschish of the West, which makesOr fools or knaves of all who eat it.
The preacher eats, and straight appearsHis Bible in a new translation;Its angels negro overseers,And Heaven itself a snug plantation!
The man of peace, about whose dreamsThe sweet millennial angels cluster,Tastes the mad weed, and plots and schemes,A raving Cuban filibuster!
The noisiest Democrat, with ease,It turns to Slavery's parish beadle;The shrewdest statesman eats and seesDue southward point the polar needle.
The Judge partakes, and sits erelongUpon his bench a railing blackguard;Decides off-hand that right is wrong,And reads the ten commandments backward.
O potent plant! so rare a tasteHas never Turk or Gentoo gotten;The hempen Haschish of the EastIs powerless to our Western Cotton!
Words in this poem 19
- taster n.
- One who tastes; especially, one who first tastes food or drink to ascertain its quality.
- dervish n.
- A Turkish or Persian monk, especially one who professes extreme poverty and leads an austere life. [Per. derw, fr. OPer. derew to beg, ask alms: cf. F. derviche.]
- almeh n.
- An Egyptian dancing girl; an Alma. [Ar. 'almah (fem.) learned, fr. 'alama to know: cf. F. almée.]
- eblis n.
- The prince of the evil spirits; Satan. [Written also Eblees.] [Ar. iblis.]
- aglow adv.
- In a glow; glowing; as, cheeks aglow; the landscape all aglow. [Pref. a- + glow.]
- houri n.
- A nymph of paradise; -- so called by the Mohammedans. [Per. huri, hura, hur; akin to Ar. hur, pl. of ahwar beautiful-eyed, black-eyed.]
- mollah n.
- One of the higher order of Turkish judges; also, a Turkish title of respect for a religious and learned man. [Ar. maula, commonly mollain Turkey.]
- metempsychosis n.
- The passage of the soul, as an immortal essence, at the death of the animal body it had inhabited, into another living body, whether of a brute or a human being; transmigration of souls. Sir T. [NL., fr. Gr. Psychology.]
- muezzin n.
- A Mohammedan crier of the hour of prayer. [Written also mouezzin, mueddin, and muwazzin.] [Ar.]
- synagogue n.
- A congregation or assembly of Jews met for the purpose of worship, or the performance of religious rites. [F., from L. synagoga, Gr. Syn-, and Agent.]
- rabbi n.
- Master; lord; teacher; -- a Jewish title of respect or honor for a teacher or doctor of the law.
- tokay n.
- A grape of an oval shape and whitish color. [Named fr. Tokay in Hungary.]
- millennial a.
- Of or pertaining to the millennium, or to a thousand years; as, a millennial period; millennial happiness.
- cuban a.
- Of or pertaining to Cuba or its inhabitants.
- democrat n.
- One who is an adherent or advocate of democracy, or government by the people. [Cf. F. démocrate.]
- erelong adv.
- Before the ere long.
- turk n.
- A member of any of numerous Tartar tribes of Central Asia, etc.; esp., one of the dominant race in Turkey. [Per. Turk; probably of Tartar origin: cf. F. Turc.]
- gentoo n.
- A native of Hindostan; a Hindoo. [Pg. gentio gentile, heathen. See Gentile.]
- hempen a.
- Made of hemp; as, a hempen cord.
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
The Haschish 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 Haschish, 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-haschish.html, id L24893.
Form and metre
The Haschish is 48 lines in 12 stanzas of 4 lines each. The commonest rhyme scheme is ABAB, in 5 of the 12 stanzas; the rest vary or could not be confirmed. The metre is iambic pentameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 91%).
See other poems in iambic pentameter.
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 vauntA · competingB · plantA · eatingB
- 2 AA-A riseA · dancesA · paradise · glancesA
- 3 ABAB cathayA · suabianB · playA · arabianB
- 4 A-A- dogA · metempsychosis · synagogueA · moses
- 5 A-A- wellA · daughters · bellA · quarters
- 6 ABAB complaintA · itB · saintA · prophetB
- 7 -A-A awakes · itA · makes · itA
- 8 -A-A appears · translationA · overseers · plantationA
- 9 ABAB dreamsA · clusterB · schemesA · filibusterB
- 10 ABAB easeA · beadleB · seesA · needleB
- 11 A-A- erelongA · blackguard · wrongA · backward
- 12 -A-A taste · gottenA · east · cottonA
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 pentameter. How this is done.
| Line | Syl. | Stress |
|---|---|---|
| OF all that Orient lands can vaunt | 9 | ···/˘···· |
| Of marvels with our own competing, | 9 | ·/˘·/·˘/˘ |
| The strangest is the Haschish plant, | 8 | ·/˘····· |
| And what will follow on its eating. | 9 | ···/˘··/˘ |
| What pictures to the taster rise, | 8 | ·/˘··/˘· |
| Of Dervish or of Almeh dances! | 9 | ·/˘····/˘ |
| Of Eblis, or of Paradise, | 8 | ·/˘··/˘· |
| Set all aglow with Houri glances! | 9 | ··˘/·/˘/˘ |
| The poppy visions of Cathay, | 8 | ·/˘/˘·˘/ |
| The heavy beer-trance of the Suabian; | 9 | ·/˘······ |
| The wizard lights and demon play | 8 | ·/˘··/˘· |
| Of nights Walpurgis and Arabian! | 9 | ······˘/˘ |
| The Mollah and the Christian dog | 8 | ·/˘··/˘· |
| Change place in mad metempsychosis; | 6 | ······ |
| The Muezzin climbs the synagogue, | 9 | ·˘/˘··/˘· |
| The Rabbi shakes his beard at Moses! | 9 | ·/·····/˘ |
| The Arab by his desert well | 8 | ·/˘··/˘· |
| Sits choosing from some Caliph's daughters, | 9 | ·/˘··/˘/˘ |
| And hears his single camel's bell | 8 | ···/˘/˘· |
| Sound welcome to his regal quarters. | 9 | ·/˘··/˘/˘ |
| The Koran's reader makes complaint | 8 | ·˘//˘·˘/ |
| Of Shitan dancing on and off it; | 9 | ···/˘···· |
| The robber offers alms, the saint | 8 | ·/˘/˘··· |
| Drinks Tokay and blasphemes the Prophet. | 9 | ·˘/····/˘ |
| Such scenes that Eastern plant awakes; | 8 | ···/˘·˘/ |
| But we have one ordained to beat it, | 9 | ····˘/··· |
| The Haschish of the West, which makes | 8 | ········ |
| Or fools or knaves of all who eat it. | 9 | ········· |
| The preacher eats, and straight appears | 8 | ·/˘···˘/ |
| His Bible in a new translation; | 9 | ·/˘···˘/˘ |
| Its angels negro overseers, | 9 | ·/˘/˘·˘/˘ |
| And Heaven itself a snug plantation! | 9 | ·/˘/···/˘ |
| The man of peace, about whose dreams | 8 | ········ |
| The sweet millennial angels cluster, | 9 | ··˘/˘/˘/˘ |
| Tastes the mad weed, and plots and schemes, | 8 | ········ |
| A raving Cuban filibuster! | 9 | ·/˘/˘/˘·˘ |
| The noisiest Democrat, with ease, | 8 | ·/˘/˘··· |
| It turns to Slavery's parish beadle; | 9 | ···/˘/˘/˘ |
| The shrewdest statesman eats and sees | 8 | ·/˘/˘··· |
| Due southward point the polar needle. | 9 | ·/˘··/˘/˘ |
| The Judge partakes, and sits erelong | 9 | ··˘/····· |
| Upon his bench a railing blackguard; | 9 | ·····/˘/˘ |
| Decides off-hand that right is wrong, | 8 | ˘/······ |
| And reads the ten commandments backward. | 9 | ····˘/˘/˘ |
| O potent plant! so rare a taste | 8 | ·/˘····· |
| Has never Turk or Gentoo gotten; | 9 | ·/˘··˘//˘ |
| The hempen Haschish of the East | 8 | ·/˘····· |
| Is powerless to our Western Cotton! | 9 | ·/˘·//˘/˘ |
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.