The Kansas Emigrants
WE cross the prairie as of oldThe pilgrims crossed the sea,To make the West, as they the East,The homestead of the free!
We go to rear a wall of menOn Freedom's southern line,And plant beside the cotton-treeThe rugged Northern pine!
We're flowing from our native hillsAs our free rivers flow;The blessing of our Mother-landIs on us as we go.
We go to plant her common schools,On distant prairie swells,And give the Sabbaths of the wildThe music of her bells.
Upbearing, like the Ark of old,The Bible in our van,We go to test the truth of GodAgainst the fraud of man.
No pause, nor rest, save where the streamsThat feed the Kansas run,Save where our Pilgrim gonfalonShall flout the setting sun.
We'll tread the prairie as of oldOur fathers sailed the sea,And make the West, as they the East,The homestead of the free!
Words in this poem
- kansas n.
- A tribe of Indians allied to the Winnebagoes and Osages. They formerly inhabited the region which is now the State of Kansas, but were removed to the Indian Territory.
- gonfalon n.
- The ensign or standard in use by certain princes or states, such as the mediæval republics of Italy, and in more recent times by the pope. [OE. gonfanoun, OF. gonfanon, F. gonfalon, the same word as F. confalon, name of a religious brotherhood, fr. OHG. gundfano war flag; gund war (used in comp., an]
- 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 Kansas Emigrants 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 Kansas Emigrants, 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-kansas-emigrants.html, id L24895.
Form and metre
The Kansas Emigrants is 28 lines in 7 stanzas of 4 lines each. The metre is common measure, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 94%).
See other poems in common measure.
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 -A-A old · seaA · east · freeA
- 2 -A-A men · lineA · tree · pineA
- 3 -A-A hills · flowA · land · goA
- 4 -A-A schools · swellsA · wild · bellsA
- 5 -A-A old · vanA · god · manA
- 6 -A-A streams · runA · gonfalon · sunA
- 7 -A-A old · seaA · east · freeA
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 common measure. How this is done.
| Line | Syl. | Stress |
|---|---|---|
| WE cross the prairie as of old | 8 | ···/˘··· |
| The pilgrims crossed the sea, | 6 | ·/˘··· |
| To make the West, as they the East, | 8 | ········ |
| The homestead of the free! | 6 | ·/···· |
| We go to rear a wall of men | 8 | ········ |
| On Freedom's southern line, | 6 | ·/˘/˘· |
| And plant beside the cotton-tree | 8 | ··˘/·/˘· |
| The rugged Northern pine! | 6 | ·/˘/˘· |
| We're flowing from our native hills | 8 | ·/·/˘/˘· |
| As our free rivers flow; | 7 | ·/˘·/˘· |
| The blessing of our Mother-land | 8 | ·/˘·//˘· |
| Is on us as we go. | 6 | ······ |
| We go to plant her common schools, | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| On distant prairie swells, | 6 | ·/˘/˘· |
| And give the Sabbaths of the wild | 8 | ···/˘··· |
| The music of her bells. | 6 | ·/˘··· |
| Upbearing, like the Ark of old, | 8 | ········ |
| The Bible in our van, | 7 | ·/˘·/˘· |
| We go to test the truth of God | 8 | ········ |
| Against the fraud of man. | 6 | ······ |
| No pause, nor rest, save where the streams | 8 | ········ |
| That feed the Kansas run, | 6 | ···/˘· |
| Save where our Pilgrim gonfalon | 8 | ··//˘··· |
| Shall flout the setting sun. | 6 | ···/˘· |
| We'll tread the prairie as of old | 8 | ···/˘··· |
| Our fathers sailed the sea, | 7 | /˘/˘··· |
| And make the West, as they the East, | 8 | ········ |
| The homestead of the free! | 6 | ·/···· |
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.