The Hive at Gettysburg
IN the old Hebrew myth the lion's frame,So terrible alive,Bleached by the desert's sun and wind, becameThe wandering wild bees' hive;And he who, lone and naked-handed, toreThose jaws of death apart,In after time drew forth their honeyed storeTo strengthen his strong heart.
Dead seemed the legend: but it only sleptTo wake beneath our sky;Just on the spot whence ravening Treason creptBack to its lair to die,Bleeding and torn from Freedom's mountain bounds,A stained and shattered drumIs now the hive where, on their flowery rounds,The wild bees go and come.
Unchallenged by a ghostly sentinel,They wander wide and far,Along green hillsides, sown with shot and shell,Through vales once choked with war.The low reveille of their battle-drumDisturbs no morning prayer;With deeper peace in summer noons their humFills all the drowsy air.
And Samson's riddle is our own to-day,Of sweetness from the strong,Of union, peace, and freedom plucked awayFrom the rent jaws of wrong.From Treason's death we draw a purer life,As, from the beast he slew,A sweetness sweeter for his bitter strifeThe old-time athlete drew!
Words in this poem
- bleached a.
- Whitened; make white.
- lone n.
- A lane. See Loanin.
- tore n.
- The dead grass that remains on mowing land in winter and spring. Mortimer. [Probably from the root of tear; cf. W. tór a break, cut, tóri to break, cut.]
- honeyed a.
- Covered with honey.
- ravening n.
- Eagerness for plunder; rapacity; extortion. Luke xi. 39.
- lair n.
- A place in which to lie or rest; especially, the bed or couch of a wild beast. [OE. leir, AS. leger; akin to D. leger, G. lager couch, lair, OHG. laga, Goth. ligrs, and to E. lie. See Lie to be prostrate, and cf. Layer, Leaguer.]
- ghostly a.
- Relating to the soul; not carnal or secular; spiritual; as, a ghostly confessor. [OE. gastlich, gostlich, AS. gastlic. See Ghost.]
- reveille n.
- The beat of drum, or bugle blast, about break of day, to give notice that it is time for the soldiers to rise, and for the sentinels to forbear challenging. [F. réveil, fr. réveiller to awake; pref. re- re- + pref. es- (L. ex) + veiller to awake, watch, L. vigilare to watch. The English form was prob. taken by mistak]
- strife n.
- The act of striving; earnest endeavor. [OF. estrif. See Strive.]
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
The Hive at Gettysburg 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 Hive at Gettysburg, 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-hive-at-gettysburg.html, id L24929.
Form and metre
The Hive at Gettysburg is 32 lines in 4 stanzas of 8 lines each. The rhyme scheme is ABABCDCD, complete in 3 of its 4 stanzas. The metre is iambic pentameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 90%).
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 ABABCDCD frameA · aliveB · becameA · hiveB · toreC · apartD · storeC · heartD
- 2 ABABCDCD sleptA · skyB · creptA · dieB · boundsC · drumD · roundsC · comeD
- 3 A-A-BCBC sentinelA · far · shellA · war · drumB · prayerC · humB · airC
- 4 ABABCDCD dayA · strongB · awayA · wrongB · lifeC · slewD · strifeC · drewD
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 |
|---|---|---|
| IN the old Hebrew myth the lion's frame, | 10 | ···/˘··/˘· |
| So terrible alive, | 6 | ·/˘˘˘/ |
| Bleached by the desert's sun and wind, became | 10 | ···/˘···˘/ |
| The wandering wild bees' hive; | 7 | ·/˘˘··· |
| And he who, lone and naked-handed, tore | 10 | ·····/˘/˘· |
| Those jaws of death apart, | 6 | ····˘/ |
| In after time drew forth their honeyed store | 10 | ·······/˘· |
| To strengthen his strong heart. | 6 | ·/˘··· |
| Dead seemed the legend: but it only slept | 10 | ···/˘··/˘· |
| To wake beneath our sky; | 7 | ····/˘· |
| Just on the spot whence ravening Treason crept | 10 | ·····/˘/˘· |
| Back to its lair to die, | 6 | ······ |
| Bleeding and torn from Freedom's mountain bounds, | 10 | /˘···/˘/˘· |
| A stained and shattered drum | 6 | ···/˘· |
| Is now the hive where, on their flowery rounds, | 10 | ·······/˘· |
| The wild bees go and come. | 6 | ······ |
| Unchallenged by a ghostly sentinel, | 9 | ˘/˘··/˘/˘ |
| They wander wide and far, | 6 | ·/˘··· |
| Along green hillsides, sown with shot and shell, | 10 | ˘/·/······ |
| Through vales once choked with war. | 6 | ······ |
| The low reveille of their battle-drum | 10 | ··˘/˘··/˘· |
| Disturbs no morning prayer; | 6 | ˘/·/˘· |
| With deeper peace in summer noons their hum | 10 | ·/˘··/˘··· |
| Fills all the drowsy air. | 6 | ···/˘· |
| And Samson's riddle is our own to-day, | 10 | ·/˘/˘·/··· |
| Of sweetness from the strong, | 6 | ·/˘··· |
| Of union, peace, and freedom plucked away | 10 | ·/˘··/˘·˘/ |
| From the rent jaws of wrong. | 6 | ······ |
| From Treason's death we draw a purer life, | 10 | ·/˘····/˘· |
| As, from the beast he slew, | 6 | ······ |
| A sweetness sweeter for his bitter strife | 10 | ·/˘/˘··/˘· |
| The old-time athlete drew! | 6 | ···/·· |
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