Laurel · John Greenleaf Whittier · Anti-Slavery Poems and Songs of Labor and Reform

The Panorama

John Greenleaf Whittier (1807–1892) · 1865

iambic pentameter · heroic couplets · 598 lines · from Anti-Slavery Poems and Songs of Labor and Reform

"A! fredome is a nobill thing!Fredome mayse man to haif liking.Fredome all solace to man giffis;He levys at ese that frely levysA nobil hart may haif nane eseNa ellvs nocht that may him pleseGyff Fredome failythe."

THROUGH the long hall the shuttered windows shedA dubious light on every upturned head;On locks like those of Absalom the fair,On the bald apex ringed with scanty hair,On blank indifference and on curious stare;On the pale Showman reading from his stageThe hieroglyphics of that facial page;Half sad, half scornful, listening to the bruitOf restless cane-tap and impatient foot,And the shrill call, across the general din,"Roll up your curtain! Let the show begin!"

At length a murmur like the winds that breakInto green waves the prairie's grassy lake,Deepened and swelled to music clear and loud,And, as the west-wind lifts a summer cloud,The curtain rose, disclosing wide and farA green land stretching to the evening star,Fair rivers, skirted by primeval treesAnd flowers hummed over by the desert bees,Marked by tall bluffs whose slopes of greenness showFantastic outcrops of the rock below;The slow result of patient Nature's pains,And plastic fingering of her sun and rains;Arch, tower, and gate, grotesquely windowed hall,And long escarpment of half-crumbled wall,Huger than those which, from steep hills of vine,Stare through their loopholes on the travelled Rhine;Suggesting vaguely to the gazer's mindA fancy, idle as the prairie wind,Of the land's dwellers in an age unguessed;The unsung Jotuns of the mystic West.

Beyond, the prairie's sea-like swells surpassThe Tartar's marvels of his Land of Grass,Vast as the sky against whose sunset shoresWave after wave the billowy greenness pours;And, onward still, like islands in that mainLoom the rough peaks of many a mountain chain,Whence east and west a thousand waters runFrom winter lingering under summer's sun.And, still beyond, long lines of foam and sandTell where Pacific rolls his waves a-land,From many a wide-lapped port and land-locked bay,Opening with thunderous pomp the world's highwayTo Indian isles of spice, and marts of far Cathay.

"Such," said the Showman, as the curtain fell,"Is the new Canaan of our Israel;The land of promise to the swarming North,Which, hive-like, sends its annual surplus forth,To the poor Southron on his worn-out soil,Scathed by the curses of unnatural toil;To Europe's exiles seeking home and rest,And the lank nomads of the wandering West,Who, asking neither, in their love of changeAnd the free bison's amplitude of range,Rear the log-hut, for present shelter meant,Not future comfort, like an Arab's tent."

Then spake a shrewd on-looker, "Sir," said he,"I like your picture, but I fain would seeA sketch of what your promised land will beWhen, with electric nerve, and fiery-brained,With Nature's forces to its chariot chained,The future grasping, by the past obeyed,The twentieth century rounds a new decade."

Then said the Showman, sadly: "He who grievesOver the scattering of the sibyl's leavesUnwisely mourns. Suffice it, that we knowWhat needs must ripen from the seed we sow;That present time is but the mould whereinWe cast the shapes of holiness and sin.A painful watcher of the passing hour,Its lust of gold, its strife for place and power;Its lack of manhood, honor, reverence, truth,Wise-thoughted age, and generous-hearted youth;Nor yet unmindful of each better sign,The low, far lights, which on th' horizon shine,Like those which sometimes tremble on the rimOf clouded skies when day is closing dim,Flashing athwart the purple spears of rainThe hope of sunshine on the hills againI need no prophet's word, nor shapes that passLike clouding shadows o'er a magic glass;For now, as ever, passionless and cold,Doth the dread angel of the future holdEvil and good before us, with no voiceOr warning look to guide us in our choice;With spectral hands outreaching through the gloomThe shadowy contrasts of the coming doom.Transferred from these, it now remains to giveThe sun and shade of Fate's alternative."

Then, with a burst of music, touching allThe keys of thrifty life,--the mill-stream's fall,The engine's pant along its quivering rails,The anvil's ring, the measured beat of flails,The sweep of scythes, the reaper's whistled tune,Answering the summons of the bells of noon,The woodman's hail along the river shores,The steamboat's signal, and the dip of oarsSlowly the curtain rose from off a landFair as God's garden. Broad on either handThe golden wheat-fields glimmered in the sun,And the tall maize its yellow tassels spun.Smooth highways set with hedge-rows living green,With steepled towns through shaded vistas seen,The school-house murmuring with its hive-like swarm,The brook-bank whitening in the grist-mill's storm,The painted farm-house shining through the leavesOf fruited orchards bending at its eaves,Where live again, around the Western hearth,The homely old-time virtues of the North;Where the blithe housewife rises with the day,And well-paid labor counts his task a play.And, grateful tokens of a Bible free,And the free Gospel of Humanity,Of diverse-sects and differing names the shrines,One in their faith, whate'er their outward signs,Like varying strophes of the same sweet hymnFrom many a prairie's swell and river's brim,A thousand church-spires sanctify the airOf the calm Sabbath, with their sign of prayer.

Like sudden nightfall over bloom and greenThe curtain dropped: and, momently, betweenThe clank of fetter and the crack of thong,Half sob, half laughter, music swept along;A strange refrain, whose idle words and low,Like drunken mourners, kept the time of woe;As if the revellers at a masqueradeHeard in the distance funeral marches played.Such music, dashing all his smiles with tears,The thoughtful voyager on Ponchartrain hears,Where, through the noonday dusk of wooded shoresThe negro boatman, singing to his oars,With a wild pathos borrowed of his wrongRedeems the jargon of his senseless song."Look," said the Showman, sternly, as he rolledHis curtain upward. "Fate's reverse behold!"

A village straggling in loose disarrayOf vulgar newness, premature decay;A tavern, crazy with its whiskey brawls,With "Slaves at Auction!" garnishing its walls;Without, surrounded by a motley crowd,The shrewd-eyed salesman, garrulous and loud,A squire or colonel in his pride of place,Known at free fights, the caucus, and the race,Prompt to proclaim his honor without blot,And silence doubters with a ten-pace shot,Mingling the negro-driving bully's rantWith pious phrase and democratic cant,Yet never scrupling, with a filthy jest,To sell the infant from its mother's breast,Break through all ties of wedlock, home, and kin,Yield shrinking girlhood up to graybeard sin;Sell all the virtues with his human stock,The Christian graces on his auction-block,And coolly count on shrewdest bargains drivenIn hearts regenerate, and in souls forgiven!

Look once again! The moving canvas showsA slave plantation's slovenly repose,Where, in rude cabins rotting midst their weeds,The human chattel eats, and sleeps, and breeds;And, held a brute, in practice, as in law,Becomes in fact the thing he's taken for.There, early summoned to the hemp and corn,The nursing mother leaves her child new-born;There haggard sickness, weak and deathly faint,Crawls to his task, and fears to make complaint;And sad-eyed Rachels, childless in decay,Weep for their lost ones sold and torn away!Of ampler size the master's dwelling stands,In shabby keeping with his half-tilled lands;The gates unhinged, the yard with weeds unclean,The cracked veranda with a tipsy lean.Without, loose-scattered like a wreck adrift,Signs of misrule and tokens of unthrift;Within, profusion to discomfort joined,The listless body and the vacant mind;The fear, the hate, the theft and falsehood, bornIn menial hearts of toil, and stripes, and scornThere, all the vices, which, like birds obscene,Batten on slavery loathsome and unclean,From the foul kitchen to the parlor rise,Pollute the nursery where the child-heir lies,Taint infant lips beyond all after cure,With the fell poison of a breast impure;Touch boyhood's passions with the breath of flame,From girlhood's instincts steal the blush of shame.So swells, from low to high, from weak to strong,The tragic chorus of the baleful wrong;Guilty or guiltless, all within its rangeFeel the blind justice of its sure revenge.

Still scenes like these the moving chart reveals.Up the long western steppes the blighting steals;Down the Pacific slope the evil FateGlides like a shadow to the Golden GateFrom sea to sea the drear eclipse is thrown,From sea to sea the Mauvaises Terres have grown,A belt of curses on the New World's zone!

The curtain fell. All drew a freer breath,As men are wont to do when mournful deathIs covered from their sight. The Showman stoodWith drooping brow in sorrow's attitudeOne moment, then with sudden gesture shookHis loose hair back, and with the air and lookOf one who felt, beyond the narrow stageAnd listening group, the presence of the age,And heard the footsteps of the things to be,Poured out his soul in earnest words and free.

"O friends!" he said, "in this poor trick of paintYou see the semblance, incomplete and faint,Of the two-fronted Future, which, to-day,Stands dim and silent, waiting in your way.To-day, your servant, subject to your will;To-morrow, master, or for good or ill.If the dark face of Slavery on you turns,If the mad curse its paper barrier spurns,If the world granary of the West is madeThe last foul market of the slaver's trade,Why rail at fate? The mischief is your own.Why hate your neighbor? Blame yourselvesalone!

"Men of the North! The South you charge with wrongIs weak and poor, while you are rich and strong.If questions,--idle and absurd as thoseThe old-time monks and Paduan doctors chose,--Mere ghosts of questions, tariffs, and dead banks,And scarecrow pontiffs, never broke your ranks,Your thews united could, at once, roll backThe jostled nation to its primal track.Nay, were you simply steadfast, manly, just,True to the faith your fathers left in trust,If stainless honor outweighed in your scaleA codfish quintal or a factory bale,Full many a noble heart, (and such remainIn all the South, like Lot in Siddim's plain,Who watch and wait, and from the wrong's controlKeep white and pure their chastity of soul,)Now sick to loathing of your weak complaints,Your tricks as sinners, and your prayers as saints,Would half-way meet the frankness of your tone,And feel their pulses beating with your own.

"The North! the South! no geographic lineCan fix the boundary or the point define,Since each with each so closely interblends,Where Slavery rises, and where Freedom ends.Beneath your rocks the roots, far-reaching, hideOf the fell Upas on the Southern side;The tree whose branches in your northwinds waveDropped its young blossoms on Mount Vernon's grave;The nursling growth of Monticello's crestIs now the glory of the free Northwest;To the wise maxims of her olden schoolVirginia listened from thy lips, Rantoul;Seward's words of power, and Sumner's fresh renown,Flow from the pen that Jefferson laid down!And when, at length, her years of madness o'er,Like the crowned grazer on Euphrates' shore,From her long lapse to savagery, her mouthBitter with baneful herbage, turns the South,Resumes her old attire, and seeks to smoothHer unkempt tresses at the glass of truth,Her early faith shall find a tongue again,New Wythes and Pinckneys swell that old refrain,Her sons with yours renew the ancient pact,The myth of Union prove at last a fact!Then, if one murmur mars the wide content,Some Northern lip will drawl the last dissent,Some Union-saving patriot of your ownLament to find his occupation gone.

"Grant that the North 's insulted, scorned, betrayed,O'erreached in bargains with her neighbor made,When selfish thrift and party held the scalesFor peddling dicker, not for honest sales,--Whom shall we strike? Who most deserves our blame?The braggart Southron, open in his aim,And bold as wicked, crashing straight through allThat bars his purpose, like a cannon-ball?Or the mean traitor, breathing northern air,With nasal speech and puritanic hair,Whose cant the loss of principle survives,As the mud-turtle e'en its head outlives;Who, caught, chin-buried in some foul offence,Puts on a look of injured innocence,And consecrates his baseness to the causeOf constitution, union, and the laws?

"Praise to the place-man who can hold aloofHis still unpurchased manhood, office-proof;Who on his round of duty walks erect,And leaves it only rich in self-respect;As More maintained his virtue's lofty portIn the Eighth Henry's base and bloody court.But, if exceptions here and there are found,Who tread thus safely on enchanted ground,The normal type, the fitting symbol stillOf those who fatten at the public mill,Is the chained dog beside his master's door,Or Circe's victim, feeding on all four!

"Give me the heroes who, at tuck of drum,Salute thy staff, immortal Quattlebum!Or they who, doubly armed with vote and gun,Following thy lead, illustrious Atchison,Their drunken franchise shift from scene to scene,As tile-beard Jourdan did his guillotine!Rather than him who, born beneath our skies,To Slavery's hand its supplest tool supplies;The party felon whose unblushing faceLooks from the pillory of his bribe of place,And coolly makes a merit of disgrace,Points to the footmarks of indignant scorn,Shows the deep scars of satire's tossing horn;And passes to his credit side the sumOf all that makes a scoundrel's martyrdom!

"Bane of the North, its canker and its moth!These modern Esaus, bartering rights for broth!Taxing our justice, with their double claim,As fools for pity, and as knaves for blame;Who, urged by party, sect, or trade, withinThe fell embrace of Slavery's sphere of sin,Part at the outset with their moral sense,The watchful angel set for Truth's defence;Confound all contrasts, good and ill; reverseThe poles of life, its blessing and its curse;And lose thenceforth from their perverted sightThe eternal difference 'twixt the wrong and right;To them the Law is but the iron spanThat girds the ankles of imbruted man;To them the Gospel has no higher aimThan simple sanction of the master's claim,Dragged in the slime of Slavery's loathsome trail,Like Chalier's Bible at his ass's tail!

"Such are the men who, with instinctive dread,Whenever Freedom lifts her drooping head,Make prophet-tripods of their office-stools,And scare the nurseries and the village schoolsWith dire presage of ruin grim and great,A broken Union and a foundered State!Such are the patriots, self-bound to the stakeOf office, martyrs for their country's sakeWho fill themselves the hungry jaws of Fate;And by their loss of manhood save the State.In the wide gulf themselves like Cortius throw,And test the virtues of cohesive dough;As tropic monkeys, linking heads and tails,Bridge o'er some torrent of Ecuador's vales!

"Such are the men who in your churches raveTo swearing-point, at mention of the slave!When some poor parson, haply unawares,Stammers of freedom in his timid prayers;Who, if some foot-sore negro through the townSteals northward, volunteer to hunt him down.Or, if some neighbor, flying from disease,Courts the mild balsam of the Southern breeze,With hue and cry pursue him on his track,And write Free-soiler on the poor man's back.Such are the men who leave the pedler's cart,While faring South, to learn the driver's art,Or, in white neckcloth, soothe with pious aimThe graceful sorrows of some languid dame,Who, from the wreck of her bereavement, savesThe double charm of widowhood and slavesPliant and apt, they lose no chance to showTo what base depths apostasy can go;Outdo the natives in their readinessTo roast a negro, or to mob a press;Poise a tarred schoolmate on the lyncher's rail,Or make a bonfire of their birthplace mail!

"So some poor wretch, whose lips no longer bearThe sacred burden of his mother's prayer,By fear impelled, or lust of gold enticed,Turns to the Crescent from the Cross of Christ,And, over-acting in superfluous zeal,Crawls prostrate where the faithful only kneel,Out-howls the Dervish, hugs his rags to courtThe squalid Santon's sanctity of dirt;And, when beneath the city gateway's spanFiles slow and long the Meccan caravan,And through its midst, pursued by Islam's prayers,The prophet's Word some favored camel bears,The marked apostate has his place assignedThe Koran-bearer's sacred rump behind,With brush and pitcher following, grave and mute,In meek attendance on the holy brute!

"Men of the North! beneath your very eyes,By hearth and home, your real danger lies.Still day by day some hold of freedom fallsThrough home-bred traitors fed within its walls.Men whom yourselves with vote and purse sustain,At posts of honor, influence, and gain;The right of Slavery to your sons to teach,And 'South-side' Gospels in your pulpits preach,Transfix the Law to ancient freedom dearOn the sharp point of her subverted spear,And imitate upon her cushion plumpThe mad Missourian lynching from his stump;Or, in your name, upon the Senate's floorYield up to Slavery all it asks, and more;And, ere your dull eyes open to the cheat,Sell your old homestead underneath your feetWhile such as these your loftiest outlooks hold,While truth and conscience with your wares are sold,While grave-browed merchants band themselves to aidAn annual man-hunt for their Southern trade,What moral power within your grasp remainsTo stay the mischief on Nebraska's plains?High as the tides of generous impulse flow,As far rolls back the selfish undertow;And all your brave resolves, though aimed as trueAs the horse-pistol Balmawhapple drew,To Slavery's bastions lend as slight a shockAs the poor trooper's shot to Stirling rock!

"Yet, while the need of Freedom's cause demandsThe earnest efforts of your hearts and hands,Urged by all motives that can prompt the heartTo prayer and toil and manhood's manliest part;Though to the soul's deep tocsin Nature joinsThe warning whisper of her Orphic pines,The north-wind's anger, and the south-wind's sigh,The midnight sword-dance of the northern sky,And, to the ear that bends above the sodOf the green grave-mounds in the Fields of God,In low, deep murmurs of rebuke or cheer,The land's dead fathers speak their hope or fear,Yet let not Passion wrest from Reason's handThe guiding rein and symbol of command.Blame not the caution proffering to your zealA well-meant drag upon its hurrying wheel;Nor chide the man whose honest doubt extendsTo the means only, not the righteous ends;Nor fail to weigh the scruples and the fearsOf milder natures and serener years.In the long strife with evil which beganWith the first lapse of new-created man,Wisely and well has Providence assignedTo each his part,--some forward, some behind;And they, too, serve who temper and restrainThe o'erwarm heart that sets on fire the brain.True to yourselves, feed Freedom's altar-flameWith what you have; let others do the same.

"Spare timid doubters; set like flint your faceAgainst the self-sold knaves of gain and placePity the weak; but with unsparing handCast out the traitors who infest the land;From bar, press, pulpit, cast them everywhere,By dint of fasting, if you fail by prayer.And in their place bring men of antique mould,Like the grave fathers of your Age of Gold;Statesmen like those who sought the primal fountOf righteous law, the Sermon on the Mount;Lawyers who prize, like Quincy, (to our dayStill spared, Heaven bless him!) honor more than pay,And Christian jurists, starry-pure, like Jay;Preachers like Woolman, or like them who boreThe faith of Wesley to our Western shore,And held no convert genuine till he brokeAlike his servants' and the Devil's yoke;And priests like him who Newport's market trod,And o'er its slave-ships shook the bolts of God!So shall your power, with a wise prudence used,Strong but forbearing, firm but not abused,In kindly keeping with the good of all,The nobler maxims of the past recall,Her natural home-born right to Freedom give,And leave her foe his robber-right,--to live.Live, as the snake does in his noisome fen!Live, as the wolf does in his bone-strewn den!Live, clothed with cursing like a robe of flame,The focal point of million-fingered shame!Live, till the Southron, who, with all his faults,Has manly instincts, in his pride revolts,Dashes from off him, midst the glad world's cheers,The hideous nightmare of his dream of years,And lifts, self-prompted, with his own right hand,The vile encumbrance from his glorious land!

"So, wheresoe'er our destiny sends forthIts widening circles to the South or North,Where'er our banner flaunts beneath the starsIts mimic splendors and its cloudlike bars,There shall Free Labor's hardy children standThe equal sovereigns of a slaveless land.And when at last the hunted bison tires,And dies o'ertaken by the squatter's fires;And westward, wave on wave, the living floodBreaks on the snow-line of majestic Hood;And lonely Shasta listening hears the treadOf Europe's fair-haired children, Hesper-led;And, gazing downward through his boar-locks, seesThe tawny Asian climb his giant knees,The Eastern sea shall hush his waves to hearPacific's surf-beat answer Freedom's cheer,And one long rolling fire of triumph runBetween the sunrise and the sunset gun!"

My task is done. The Showman and his show,Themselves but shadows, into shadows go;And, if no song of idlesse I have sung.Nor tints of beauty on the canvas flung;If the harsh numbers grate on tender ears,And the rough picture overwrought appears,With deeper coloring, with a sterner blast,Before my soul a voice and vision passed,Such as might Milton's jarring trump require,Or glooms of Dante fringed with lurid fire.Oh, not of choice, for themes of public wrongI leave the green and pleasant paths of song,The mild, sweet words which soften and adorn,For sharp rebuke and bitter laugh of scorn.More dear to me some song of private worth,Some homely idyl of my native North,Some summer pastoral of her inland vales,Or, grim and weird, her winter fireside talesHaunted by ghosts of unreturning sails,Lost barks at parting hung from stem to helmWith prayers of love like dreams on Virgil's elm.Nor private grief nor malice holds my pen;I owe but kindness to my fellow-men;And, South or North, wherever hearts of prayerTheir woes and weakness to our Father bear,Wherever fruits of Christian love are foundIn holy lives, to me is holy ground.But the time passes. It were vain to craveA late indulgence. What I had I gave.Forget the poet, but his warning heed,And shame his poor word with your nobler deed.

O ARY SCHEFFER! when beneath thine eye,Touched with the light that cometh from above,Grew the sweet picture of the dear Lord's love,No dream hadst thou that Christian hands would tearTherefrom the token of His equal care,And make thy symbol of His truth a lieThe poor, dumb slave whose shackles fall awayIn His compassionate gaze, grubbed smoothly out,To mar no more the exercise devoutOf sleek oppression kneeling down to prayWhere the great oriel stains the Sabbath day!Let whoso can before such praying-booksKneel on his velvet cushion; I, for one,Would sooner bow, a Parsee, to the sun,Or tend a prayer-wheel in Thibetar brooks,Or beat a drum on Yedo's temple-floor.No falser idol man has bowed before,In Indian groves or islands of the sea,Than that which through the quaint-carved Gothic doorLooks forth,--a Church without humanity!Patron of pride, and prejudice, and wrong,--The rich man's charm and fetich of the strong,The Eternal Fulness meted, clipped, and shorn,The seamless robe of equal mercy torn,The dear Christ hidden from His kindred flesh,And, in His poor ones, crucified afresh!Better the simple Lama scattering wide,Where sweeps the storm Alechan's steppes along,His paper horses for the lost to ride,And wearying Buddha with his prayers to makeThe figures living for the traveller's sake,Than he who hopes with cheap praise to beguileThe ear of God, dishonoring man the while;Who dreams the pearl gate's hinges, rusty grown,Are moved by flattery's oil of tongue alone;That in the scale Eternal Justice bearsThe generous deed weighs less than selfish prayers,And words intoned with graceful unction moveThe Eternal Goodness more than lives of truth and love.Alas, the Church! The reverend head of Jay,Enhaloed with its saintly silvered hair,Adorns no more the places of her prayer;And brave young Tyng, too early called away,Troubles the Haman of her courts no moreLike the just Hebrew at the Assyrian's door;And her sweet ritual, beautiful but deadAs the dry husk from which the grain is shed,And holy hymns from which the life devoutOf saints and martyrs has wellnigh gone out,Like candles dying in exhausted air,For Sabbath use in measured grists are ground;And, ever while the spiritual mill goes round,Between the upper and the nether stones,Unseen, unheard, the wretched bondman groans,And urges his vain plea, prayer-smothered, anthem-drowned!

O heart of mine, keep patience! Looking forth,As from the Mount of Vision, I behold,Pure, just, and free, the Church of Christ on earth;The martyr's dream, the golden age foretold!And found, at last, the mystic Graal I see,Brimmed with His blessing, pass from lip to lipIn sacred pledge of human fellowship;And over all the songs of angels hear;Songs of the love that casteth out all fear;Songs of the Gospel of Humanity!Lo! in the midst, with the same look He wore,Healing and blessing on Genesaret's shore,Folding together, with the all-tender mightOf His great love, the dark bands and the white,Stands the Consoler, soothing every pain,Making all burdens light, and breaking every chain.

Words in this poem 152

solace n.: Comfort in grief; alleviation of grief or anxiety; also, that which relieves in distress; that which cheers or consoles; relief. [OF. solas, ssoulaz, L. solacium, solatium, fr. solari to comfort, console. Cf. Console, v. t.]
shuttered a.: Furnished with shutters.
dubious a.: Doubtful or not settled in opinion; being in doubt; wavering or fluctuating; undetermined. [L. dubius, dubiosus, fr. duo two. See Two, and cf. Doubt.]
curious a.: Difficult to please or satisfy; solicitous to be correct; careful; scrupulous; nice; exact. [OF. curios, curius, F. curieux, L. curiosus careful, inquisitive, fr. cura care. See Cure.]
showman n.: One who exhibits a show; a proprietor of a show.
bruit n.: Report; rumor; fame. [OE. bruit, brut, noise, bruit, F. bruit, fr. LL. brugitus; cf. L. rugire to roar; perh. influenced by the source of E. bray to make a harsh noise, Armor. brud b]
fingering n.: The act or process of handling or touching with the fingers.
grotesquely adv.: In a grotesque manner.
windowed a.: Having windows or openings.
escarpment n.: A steep descent or declivity; steep face or edge of a ridge; ground about a fortified place, cut away nearly vertically to prevent hostile approach. See Scarp. [Cf. F. escarpement.]
billowy a.: Of or pertaining to billows; swelling or swollen into large waves; full of billows or surges; resembling billows.
thunderous a.: Producing thunder. [Written also thundrous.]
southron n.: An inhabitant of the more southern part of a country; formerly, a name given in Scotland to any Englishman.
amplitude n.: State of being ample; extent of surface or space; largeness of dimensions; size. [L. amplitudo, fr. amplus: cf. F. amplitude. See Ample.]
shrewd a.: Inclining to shrew; disposing to curse or scold; hence, vicious; malicious; evil; wicked; mischievous; vexatious; rough; unfair; shrewish. [Originally the p. p. of shrew, v.t.]
fain v. t.: To be glad ; to wish or desire.
decade n.: A group or division of ten; esp., a period of ten years; a decennium; as, a decade of years or days; a decade of soldiers; the second decade of Livy. [F. décade, L. decas, -adis, fr. Gr. Ten.]
sadly adv.: Wearily; heavily; firmly.
unwisely adv.: In an unwise manner; foolishly. [AS. unwislice.]
suffice v. i.: To be enough, or sufficient; to meet the need (of anything); to be equal to the end proposed; to be adequate. [OE. suffisen, OF. soufire, F. suffire (cf. suffisant, p.pr.), L. sufficere to put under, to substitute, to avail for, to suffice; sub under + facere to make. Se]
needs adv.: Of necessity; necessarily; indispensably; -- often with must, and equivalent to of need. [Orig. gen. of need, used as an adverb. Cf. - wards.]
mould n.: Crumbling, soft, friable earth; esp., earth containing the remains or constituents of organic matter, and suited to the growth of plants; soil. [OE. molde, AS. molde; akin to D. mul, G. mull, mulm, OHG. molt, molta, Icel. mold, Dan. muld, Sw. mull, Goth. mulda, and E. meal flour. See Meal, and cf. Mole a]
watcher n.: One who watches; one who sits up or continues; a diligent observer; specifically, one who attends upon the sick during the night.
lust v. i.: To list; to like. [AS. lystan. See Lust, n., and cf. List to choose.]
strife n.: The act of striving; earnest endeavor. [OF. estrif. See Strive.]
generous a.: Of honorable birth or origin; highborn. [F. généreux, fr. L. generous of noble birth, noble, excellent, magnanimous, fr. genus birth, race: cf. It. generoso. See 2d Gender.]
sunshine n.: The light of the sun, or the place where it shines; the direct rays of the sun, the place where they fall, or the warmth and light which they give.
clouding n.: A mottled appearance given to ribbons and silks in the process of dyeing.
passionless a.: Void of passion; without anger or emotion; not easily excited; calm.
pant v. i.: To breathe quickly or in a labored manner, as after exertion or from eagerness or excitement; to respire with heaving of the breast; to gasp. [Cf. F. panteler to gasp for breath, OF. panteisier to be breathless, F. pantois out of breath; perh. akin to E. phantom, the verb prob. orig. meaning, to have t]
steepled a.: Furnished with, or having the form of, a steeple; adorned with steeples. Fairfax.
whitening n.: The act or process of making or becoming white.
homely a.: Belonging to, or having the characteristics of, home; domestic; familiar; intimate. [From Home, n.]
blithe a.: Gay; merry; sprightly; joyous; glad; cheerful; as, a blithe spirit. [AS. bli blithe, kind; akin to Goth. blei kind, Icel. bli mild, gentle, Dan. & Sw. blid gentle, D. blijd blithe, OHG. blidi kind, blithe.]
sanctify v. t.: To make sacred or holy; to set apart to a holy or religious use; to consecrate by appropriate rites; to hallow. [F. sanctifier, L. sanctificare; sanctus holy + - ficare (in comp.) to make. See Saint, and -fy.]
nightfall n.: The close of the day.
clank n.: A sharp, brief, ringing sound, made by a collision of metallic or other sonorous bodies; -- usually expressing a duller or less resounding sound than clang, and a deeper and stronger sound than clink. [Akin to clink, and of imitative origin; cf. G. klang sound, D. klank. Cf. Clang.]
voyager n.: One who voyages; one who sails or passes by sea or water. [Cf. F. voyager traveling.]
noonday n.: Midday; twelve o'clock in the day; noon.
boatman n.: A man who manages a boat; a rower of a boat.
sternly adv.: In a stern manner.
straggling a.: from Straggle, v.
disarray v. t.: To throw into disorder; to break the array of. [Pref. dis- + array, v.: cf. OF. desarroyer, desarreier.]
whiskey n.: A light carriage built for rapid motion; -- called also tim- whiskey. [See Whisk, v. t. & n.]
salesman n.: One who sells anything; one whose occupation is to sell goods or merchandise. [Sale + man.]
garrulous a.: Talking much, especially about commonplace or trivial things; talkative; loquacious. [L. garrulus, fr. garrire to chatter, talk; cf. Gr. Call.]
jest n.: A deed; an action; a gest. [OE. jeste, geste, deed, action, story, tale, OF. geste, LL. gesta, orig., exploits, neut. pl. from L. gestus, p. p. of gerere to bear, carry, accomplish, perfor]
girlhood n.: State or time of being a girl.
coolly adv.: In a cool manner; without heat or excessive cold; without passion or ardor; calmly; deliberately; with indifference; impudently.
regenerate v. t.: To generate or produce anew; to reproduce; to give new life, strength, or vigor to.
haggard a.: Wild or intractable; disposed to break away from duty; untamed; as, a haggard or refractory hawk. Shak [F. hagard; of German origin, and prop. meaning, of the hegde or woods, wild, untamed. See Hedge, 1st Haw, and -ard.]
deathly a.: Deadly; fatal; mortal; destructive.
shabby a.: Torn or worn to rage; poor; mean; ragged. [See Shab, n., Scabby, and Scab.]
cracked a.: Coarsely ground or broken; as, cracked wheat.
veranda n.: An open, roofed gallery or portico, adjoining a dwelling house, forming an out-of-door sitting room. See Loggia. [A word brought by the English from India; of uncertain origin; cf. Skr. vara, Pg. varanda, Sp. baranda, Malay baranda.]
adrift adv.: Floating at random; in a drifting condition; at the mercy of wind and waves. Also fig. [Pref. a- (for on) + drift.]
misrule v. t.: To rule badly; to misgovern.
unthrift n.: Want of thrift; untriftiness; prodigality.
listless a.: Having no desire or inclination; indifferent; heedless; spiritless. [OE. listles, lustles. See Lust.]
batten v. t.: To make fat by plenteous feeding; to fatten. [See Batful.]
nursery n.: The act of nursing. [Cf. F. nourricerie.]
guiltless a.: Free from guilt; innocent.
blighting a.: Causing blight.
drear n.: Sadness; dismalness.
freer n.: One who frees, or sets free.
shook v. t.: To pack, as staves, in a shook.
scarecrow n.: Anything set up to frighten crows or other birds from cornfields; hence, anything terifying without danger.
broke v. i.: To transact business for another. Brome. [See Broker, and cf. Brook.]
primal a.: First; primary; original; chief. [LL. primalis, fr. L. primus the first. See Prime, a.]
stainless a.: Free from stain; immaculate.
quintal n.: A hundredweight, either 112 or 100 pounds, according to the scale used. Cf. Cental. [Sometimes written and pronounced kentle.] [F., fr. Sp. quintal, fr. Ar. qintar a weight of 100 lbs., prob. fr. L. centenarius consisting of a hundred, fr. centeni a hundred each, fr. centum a hundred. Se]
frankness n.: The quality of being frank; candor; openess; ingenuousness; fairness; liberality.
geographic a.: Of or pertaining to geography. Geographical distribution. See under Distribution. [L. geographicus, Gr. géographique.]
nursling n.: One who, or that which, is nursed; an infant; a fondling. [Nurse + -ling.]
olden a.: Old; ancient; as, the olden time.
grazer n.: One that grazes; a creature which feeds on growing grass or herbage.
savagery n.: The state of being savage; savageness; savagism. [F. sauvagerie.]
baneful a.: Having poisonous qualities; deadly; destructive; injurious; noxious; pernicious.
unkempt a.: Not combed; disheveled; as, an urchin with unkempt hair. [Pref. un- not + kempt, p. p. of kemb.]
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,]
pact n.: An agreement; a league; a compact; a covenant. [L. pactum, fr. paciscere to make a bargain or contract, fr. pacere to settle, or agree upon; cf. pangere to fasten, Gr. paca bond, and E. fang: cf. F. pacie. Cf]
drawl v. t.: To utter in a slow, lengthened tone. [Prob. fr. draw: cf. D. dralen to linger, tarry, Icel. dralla to loiter. See Draw, and cf. Draggle.]
peddling a.: Hawking; acting as a peddler.
dicker n.: The number or quantity of ten, particularly ten hides or skins; a dakir; as, a dicker of gloves. [Also daker, dakir; akin to Icel. dekr, Dan. deger, G. decher; all prob. from LL. dacra, dacrum, the number ten, akin to L. decuria a division consisting of ten,]
crashing n.: The noise of many things falling and breaking at once.
puritanic a.: Of or pertaining to the Puritans, or to their doctrines and practice.
offence n.: The act of offending in any sense; esp., a crime or a sin, an affront or an injury. [F., fr. L. offensa. See Offend.]
enchanted a.: Under the power of enchantment; possessed or exercised by enchanters; as, an enchanted castle.
franchise n.: Exemption from constraint or oppression; freedom; liberty. [F., fr. franc, fem. franche, free. See Frank, a.]
guillotine n.: A machine for beheading a person by one stroke of a heavy ax or blade, which slides in vertical guides, is raised by a cord, and let fall upon the neck of the victim. [F., from Guillotin, a French physician, who proposed, in the Constituent Assembly of 1789, to abolish decapitation with the ax or sword. The instrument was inve]
unblushing a.: Not blushing; shameless.
bribe n.: A gift begged; a present. [F. bribe a lump of bread, scraps, leavings of meals (that are generally given to a beggar), LL. briba scrap of bread; cf. OF. briber, brifer, to eat gluttonousl]
indignant a.: Affected with indignation; wrathful; passionate; irate; feeling wrath, as when a person is exasperated by unworthy or unjust treatment, by a mean action, or by a degrading accusation. [L. indignans, -antis, p. pr. of indignari to be indignant, disdain. See Indign.]
martyrdom n.: The condition of a martyr; the death of a martyr; the suffering of death on account of adherence to the Christian faith, or to any cause. [Martyr + -dom.]
bane v. t.: To be the bane of; to ruin. Fuller.
outset n.: A setting out, starting, or beginning.
defence n.: The act of defending, or the state of being defended; protection, as from violence or danger. [F. défense, OF. defense, fem., defens, masc., fr. L. defensa (cf. Fence.]
thenceforth adv.: From that time; thereafter.
scare v. t.: To frighten; to strike with sudden fear; to alarm. [OE. skerren, skeren, Icel. skirra to bar, prevent, skirrask to shun , shrink from; or fr. OE. skerre, adj., scared, Icel. skjarr; both perhaps akin to E. sheer ]
dire a.: Ill-boding; portentous; as, dire omens. [L. dirus; of uncertain origin.]
haply adv.: By hap, chance, luck, or accident; perhaps; it may be.
northward a.: Toward the north; nearer to the north than to the east or west point. [AS. noredhweard.]
soothe v. t.: To assent to as true. Testament of Love. [Originally, to assent to as true; OE. so to verify, AS. ges to prove the truth of, to bear witness. See Sooth, a.]
dame n.: A mistress of a family, who is a lady; a womam in authority; especially, a lady. [F. dame, LL. domna, fr. L. domina mistress, lady, fem. of dominus master, ruler, lord; akin to domare to tame, subdue. See Tame, and cf. Dam mother, Dan, Danger]
bereavement n.: The state of being bereaved; deprivation; esp., the loss of a relative by death.
widowhood n.: The state of being a widow; the time during which a woman is widow; also, rarely, the state of being a widower.
outdo v. t.: To go beyond in performance; to excel; to surpass.
schoolmate n.: A pupil who attends the same school as another.
bonfire n.: A large fire built in the open air, as an expression of public joy and exultation, or for amusement. [OE. bonefire, banefire, orig. a fire of bones; bone + fire; but cf. also Prov. E. bun a dry stalk.]
birthplace n.: The town, city, or country, where a person is born; place of origin or birth, in its more general sense.
kneel v. i.: To bend the knee; to fall or rest on the knees; -- sometimes with down. [OE. knelen, cneolien; akin to D. knielen, Dan. knæle. See Knee.]
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.]
squalid a.: Dirty through neglect; foul; filthy; extremely dirty. [L. squalidus, fr. squalere to be foul or filthy.]
attendance n.: Attention; regard; careful application. [OE. attendance, OF. atendance, fr. atendre, F. attendre. See Attend, v. t.]
transfix v. t.: To pierce through, as with a pointed weapon; to impale; as, to transfix one with a dart. [L. transfixus, p. p. of transfigure to transfix; trans across, through + figere to fix, fasten. See Fix.]
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.]
undertow n.: The current that sets seaward near the bottom when waves are breaking upon the shore.
tocsin n.: An alarm bell, or the ringing of a bell for the purpose of alarm. [F., fr. OF. toquier to touch, F. toquer (originally, a dialectic form of F. toucher) + seint (for sein) a bell, LL. signum, fr. L. signum a sign, signal. See To]
orphic a.: Pertaining to Orpheus; Orphean; as, Orphic hymns.
unsparing a.: Not sparing; not parsimonious; liberal; profuse. Burke. [Pref. un- not + sparing, p. pr. of spare.]
dint n.: A blow; a stroke. [OE. dint, dent, dunt, a blow, AS. dynt; akin to Icel. dyntr a dint, dynta to dint, and perh. to L. fendere (in composition). Cf. 1st Dent, Defend.]
sermon n.: A discourse or address; a talk; a writing; as, the sermens of Chaucer. [OE. sermoun, sermun, F. sermon, fr. L. sermo, - onis, a speaking, discourse, probably fr. serer, sertum, to join, connect; hence, a connected speech. See Series]
starry a.: Abounding with stars; adorned with stars.
woolman n.: One who deals in wool.
noisome a.: Noxious to health; hurtful; mischievous; unwholesome; insalubrious; destructive; as, noisome effluvia. [For noysome, fr. noy for annoy. See Annoy.]
glorious a.: Exhibiting attributes, qualities, or acts that are worthy of or receive glory; noble; praiseworthy; excellent; splendid; illustrious; inspiring admiration; as, glorious deeds. [OF. glorios, glorious, F. glorieux, fr. L. gloriosus. See Glory, n.]
shasta n.: A mountain peak, etc., in California.
asian a.: Of or pertaining to Asia; Asiatic. [L. Asianus, Gr. Asia.]
overwrought p. p.: Wrought upon excessively; overworked; overexcited.
sterner n.: A director. Dr. R. Clerke. [See 3d Stern.]
jarring a.: Shaking; disturbing; discordant. [See Jar.]
lurid a.: Pale yellow; ghastly pale; wan; gloomy; dismal. [L. luridus.]
fireside n.: A place near the fire or hearth; home; domestic life or retirement.
haunted a.: Inhabited by, or subject to the visits of, apparitions; frequented by a ghost.
wherever adv.: At or in whatever place; wheresoever.
crave v. t.: To ask with earnestness or importunity; to ask with submission or humility; to beg; to entreat; to beseech; to implore. [AS. crafian; akin to Icel. krefia, Sw. kr, Dan. kr.]
oriel n.: A gallery for minstrels. W. Hamper. [OF. oriol gallery, corridor, LL. oriolum portico, hall, prob. fr. L. aureolus gilded, applied to an apartment decorated with gilding. See Oriole.]
whoso pron.: Whosoever. Piers Plowman.
parsee n.: One of the adherents of the Zoroastrian or ancient Persian religion, descended from Persian refugees settled in India; a fire worshiper; a Gheber. [Hind. & Per. parsi a Persian, a follower of Zoroaster, a fire worshiper. Cf. Persian.]
idol n.: An image or representation of anything. [OE. idole, F. idole, L. idolum, fr. Gr. Wit, and cf. Eidolon.]
quaint a.: Prudent; wise; hence, crafty; artful; wily. [OE. queint, queynte, coint, prudent, wise, cunning, pretty, odd, OF. cointe cultivated, amiable, agreeable, neat, fr. L. cognitus known, p. p. of cognoscere to ]
seamless a.: Without a seam.
afresh adv.: Anew; again; once more; newly. [Pref. a- + fresh.]
unction n.: The act of anointing, smearing, or rubbing with an unguent, oil, or ointment, especially for medical purposes, or as a symbol of consecration; as, mercurial unction. [OE. unccioun, uncioun, OF. oncion, onction, F. onction, fr. L. unctio, fr. ungere, unctum, to anoint. See Unguent.]
reverend a.: Worthy of reverence; entitled to respect mingled with fear and affection; venerable. [F. révérend, L. reverendus, fr. revereri. See Revere.]
saintly a.: Like a saint; becoming a holy person.
nether a.: Situated down or below; lying beneath, or in the lower part; having a lower position; belonging to the region below; lower; under; -- opposed to upper. [OE. nethere, neithere, AS. ni, fr. the adv. ni downward; akin to neo below, beneath, D. neder down, G. nieder, Sw. nedre below, nether, a. & adv., and also to S]
unseen a.: Not seen or discovered.
unheard a.: Not heard; not perceived by the ear; as, words unheard by those present.
bondman n.: A man slave, or one bound to service without wages. [Bond,a.orn.+ man.]
anthem v. t.: To celebrate with anthems.
consoler n.: One who gives consolation.

Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.

About this text

The Panorama 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 Panorama, 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-panorama.html, id L24904.

Form and metre

The Panorama is 598 lines in 30 verse paragraphs. It is in rhyming couplets, 81% of the lines: heroic couplets. The metre is iambic pentameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 88%).

See other poems in heroic couplets, 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 AA-BBB- thing^A · liking^A · giffis · levys^B · ese^B · plese^B · failythe
2 AABBBCC--DD shed^A · head^A · fair^B · hair^B · stare^B · stage^C · page^C · bruit · foot · din^D · begin^D
3 AABBCCDDEEFFGGHHIIJJ break^A · lake^A · loud^B · cloud^B · far^C · star^C · trees^D · bees^D · show^E · below^E · pains^F · rains^F · hall^G · wall^G · vine^H · rhine^H · mind^I · wind^I · unguessed^J · west^J
4 AABBCCDDEEFFF surpass^A · grass^A · shores^B · pours^B · main^C · chain^C · run^D · sun^D · sand^E · land^E · bay^F · highway^F · cathay^F
5 AABBCCDDEEFF fell^A · israel^A · north^B · forth^B · soil^C · toil^C · rest^D · west^D · change^E · range^E · meant^F · tent^F
6 AAABBCC he^A · see^A · be^A · brained^B · chained^B · obeyed^C · decade^C
7 AABBCCDDEEFFGGHHIIJJKKLLMM grieves^A · leaves^A · know^B · sow^B · wherein^C · sin^C · hour^D · power^D · truth^E · youth^E · sign^F · shine^F · rim^G · dim^G · rain^H · again^H · pass^I · glass^I · cold^J · hold^J · voice^K · choice^K · gloom^L · doom^L · give^M · alternative^M
8 AABBCCDDEEFFGGHHII--JJ--KKLLMM all^A · fall^A · rails^B · flails^B · tune^C · noon^C · shores^D · oars^D · land^E · hand^E · sun^F · spun^F · green^G · seen^G · swarm^H · storm^H · leaves^I · eaves^I · hearth · north · day^J · play^J · free · humanity · shrines^K · signs^K · hymn^L · brim^L · air^M · prayer^M
9 AABBCCDDEEFFBBGG green^A · between^A · thong^B · along^B · low^C · woe^C · masquerade^D · played^D · tears^E · hears^E · shores^F · oars^F · wrong^B · song^B · rolled^G · behold^G
10 AABBCCDDEEFFGGHHIIJJ disarray^A · decay^A · brawls^B · walls^B · crowd^C · loud^C · place^D · race^D · blot^E · shot^E · rant^F · cant^F · jest^G · breast^G · kin^H · sin^H · stock^I · block^I · driven^J · forgiven^J
11 AABB--CCDDEEFFGGHH--IIJJKKLLMMNN-- shows^A · repose^A · weeds^B · breeds^B · law · for · corn^C · born^C · faint^D · complaint^D · decay^E · away^E · stands^F · lands^F · unclean^G · lean^G · adrift^H · unthrift^H · joined · mind · born^I · scorn^I · obscene^J · unclean^J · rise^K · lies^K · cure^L · impure^L · flame^M · shame^M · strong^N · wrong^N · range · revenge
12 AABBCCC reveals^A · steals^A · fate^B · gate^B · thrown^C · grown^C · zone^C
13 AA--BBCCDD breath^A · death^A · stood · attitude · shook^B · look^B · stage^C · age^C · be^D · free^D
14 AABBCCDDEEF-F paint^A · faint^A · day^B · way^B · will^C · ill^C · turns^D · spurns^D · made^E · trade^E · own^F · yourselves · alone^F
15 AABBCCDDEEFFGGHHIIJJ wrong^A · strong^A · those^B · chose^B · banks^C · ranks^C · back^D · track^D · just^E · trust^E · scale^F · bale^F · remain^G · plain^G · control^H · soul^H · complaints^I · saints^I · tone^J · own^J
16 AABBCCDDEEFFGG--HH--IIJJKK-- line^A · define^A · interblends^B · ends^B · hide^C · side^C · wave^D · grave^D · crest^E · northwest^E · school^F · rantoul^F · renown^G · down^G · o'er · shore · mouth^H · south^H · smooth · truth · again^I · refrain^I · pact^J · fact^J · content^K · dissent^K · own · gone
17 AABBCCDDEE--FFGG betrayed^A · made^A · scales^B · sales^B · blame^C · aim^C · all^D · ball^D · air^E · hair^E · survives · outlives · offence^F · innocence^F · cause^G · laws^G
18 AABBCCDDEEFF aloof^A · proof^A · erect^B · respect^B · port^C · court^C · found^D · ground^D · still^E · mill^E · door^F · four^F
19 A-BBCCDDEEEFFAA drum^A · quattlebum · gun^B · atchison^B · scene^C · guillotine^C · skies^D · supplies^D · face^E · place^E · disgrace^E · scorn^F · horn^F · sum^A · martyrdom^A
20 AABBCCDDEEFFGGBBHH moth^A · broth^A · claim^B · blame^B · within^C · sin^C · sense^D · defence^D · reverse^E · curse^E · sight^F · right^F · span^G · man^G · aim^B · claim^B · trail^H · tail^H
21 AABBCCDDCCEEFF dread^A · head^A · stools^B · schools^B · great^C · state^C · stake^D · sake^D · fate^C · state^C · throw^E · dough^E · tails^F · vales^F
22 AABBCCDDEEFFGGHHIIJJKK rave^A · slave^A · unawares^B · prayers^B · town^C · down^C · disease^D · breeze^D · track^E · back^E · cart^F · art^F · aim^G · dame^G · saves^H · slaves^H · show^I · go^I · readiness^J · press^J · rail^K · mail^K
23 AABBCC--DDEEFFGG bear^A · prayer^A · enticed^B · christ^B · zeal^C · kneel^C · court · dirt · span^D · caravan^D · prayers^E · bears^E · assigned^F · behind^F · mute^G · brute^G
24 AABBCCDDEEFFGGHHIIJJKKLLMMNN eyes^A · lies^A · falls^B · walls^B · sustain^C · gain^C · teach^D · preach^D · dear^E · spear^E · plump^F · stump^F · floor^G · more^G · cheat^H · feet^H · hold^I · sold^I · aid^J · trade^J · remains^K · plains^K · flow^L · undertow^L · true^M · drew^M · shock^N · rock^N
25 AABB--CCDDEEFFGGHHIIJJKKLLMM demands^A · hands^A · heart^B · part^B · joins · pines · sigh^C · sky^C · sod^D · god^D · cheer^E · fear^E · hand^F · command^F · zeal^G · wheel^G · extends^H · ends^H · fears^I · years^I · began^J · man^J · assigned^K · behind^K · restrain^L · brain^L · flame^M · same^M
26 AABBCCDDEEFFFGGHHIIJJKK--LLMM--NNOO face^A · place^A · hand^B · land^B · everywhere^C · prayer^C · mould^D · gold^D · fount^E · mount^E · day^F · pay^F · jay^F · bore^G · shore^G · broke^H · yoke^H · trod^I · god^I · used^J · abused^J · all^K · recall^K · give · live · fen^L · den^L · flame^M · shame^M · faults · revolts · cheers^N · years^N · hand^O · land^O
27 AABBCCDDEEFFGGHHII forth^A · north^A · stars^B · bars^B · stand^C · land^C · tires^D · fires^D · flood^E · hood^E · tread^F · led^F · sees^G · knees^G · hear^H · cheer^H · run^I · gun^I
28 AABBCCDDEEFFGG--HHHIIJJKKLLMMNN show^A · go^A · sung^B · flung^B · ears^C · appears^C · blast^D · passed^D · require^E · fire^E · wrong^F · song^F · adorn^G · scorn^G · worth · north · vales^H · tales^H · sails^H · helm^I · elm^I · pen^J · men^J · prayer^K · bear^K · found^L · ground^L · crave^M · gave^M · heed^N · deed^N
29 -AABB-CDDCCEFFEGG-G-HHIIJJK-KLLMMNNOOPPQRRQSSTTUU-VVWWV eye · above^A · love^A · tear^B · care^B · lie · away^C · out^D · devout^D · pray^C · day^C · books^E · one^F · sun^F · brooks^E · floor^G · before^G · sea · door^G · humanity · wrong^H · strong^H · shorn^I · torn^I · flesh^J · afresh^J · wide^K · along · ride^K · make^L · sake^L · beguile^M · while^M · grown^N · alone^N · bears^O · prayers^O · move^P · love^P · jay^Q · hair^R · prayer^R · away^Q · more^S · door^S · dead^T · shed^T · devout^U · out^U · air · ground^V · round^V · stones^W · groans^W · drowned^V
30 -A-A-BBCC-DDEEFF forth · behold^A · earth · foretold^A · see · lip^B · fellowship^B · hear^C · fear^C · humanity · wore^D · shore^D · might^E · white^E · pain^F · chain^F

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
"A! fredome is a nobill thing!	8	········
Fredome mayse man to haif liking.	8	······/˘
Fredome all solace to man giffis;	9	···/˘····
He levys at ese that frely levys	10	·/˘·····/˘
A nobil hart may haif nane ese	8	········
Na ellvs nocht that may him plese	7	·······
Gyff Fredome failythe."	5	·····
THROUGH the long hall the shuttered windows shed	10	·····/˘/˘·
A dubious light on every upturned head;	10	·/˘··/˘˘/·
On locks like those of Absalom the fair,	10	·····/˘˘··
On the bald apex ringed with scanty hair,	10	···/···/˘·
On blank indifference and on curious stare;	10	··˘/˘··/˘·
On the pale Showman reading from his stage	10	···/˘/˘···
The hieroglyphics of that facial page;	10	··˘/˘··/˘·
Half sad, half scornful, listening to the bruit	10	···/˘/˘···
Of restless cane-tap and impatient foot,	10	·/˘···˘/˘·
And the shrill call, across the general din,	10	····˘/·/˘·
"Roll up your curtain! Let the show begin!"	10	···/˘···˘/
At length a murmur like the winds that break	10	···/˘·····
Into green waves the prairie's grassy lake,	10	·····/˘/˘·
Deepened and swelled to music clear and loud,	10	/˘···/˘···
And, as the west-wind lifts a summer cloud,	10	·······/˘·
The curtain rose, disclosing wide and far	10	·/˘·˘/˘···
A green land stretching to the evening star,	10	···/˘··/˘·
Fair rivers, skirted by primeval trees	10	·/˘/˘·˘/˘·
And flowers hummed over by the desert bees,	10	·/·····/˘·
Marked by tall bluffs whose slopes of greenness show	10	·······/˘·
Fantastic outcrops of the rock below;	10	˘/˘·······
The slow result of patient Nature's pains,	10	··˘/·/˘/˘·
And plastic fingering of her sun and rains;	10	·/˘/˘·····
Arch, tower, and gate, grotesquely windowed hall,	10	·/··˘/˘/˘·
And long escarpment of half-crumbled wall,	10	··˘/˘··/˘·
Huger than those which, from steep hills of vine,	10	··········
Stare through their loopholes on the travelled Rhine;	10	···/···/˘·
Suggesting vaguely to the gazer's mind	10	˘/˘/˘·····
A fancy, idle as the prairie wind,	10	·/˘/˘··/˘·
Of the land's dwellers in an age unguessed;	10	···/˘·····
The unsung Jotuns of the mystic West.	10	·˘/····/˘·
Beyond, the prairie's sea-like swells surpass	10	···/˘···˘/
The Tartar's marvels of his Land of Grass,	10	·/˘/˘·····
Vast as the sky against whose sunset shores	10	·······/··
Wave after wave the billowy greenness pours;	11	·····/˘˘/˘·
And, onward still, like islands in that main	10	·/˘··/˘···
Loom the rough peaks of many a mountain chain,	10	·····/·/˘·
Whence east and west a thousand waters run	10	·····/˘/˘·
From winter lingering under summer's sun.	10	·/˘/˘··/˘·
And, still beyond, long lines of foam and sand	10	··········
Tell where Pacific rolls his waves a-land,	10	··˘/˘·····
From many a wide-lapped port and land-locked bay,	10	·/········
Opening with thunderous pomp the world's highway	10	/˘·/˘···/·
To Indian isles of spice, and marts of far Cathay.	12	·/˘·······˘/
"Such," said the Showman, as the curtain fell,	10	···/˘··/˘·
"Is the new Canaan of our Israel;	11	···/˘·/˘/˘˘
The land of promise to the swarming North,	10	···/˘··/˘·
Which, hive-like, sends its annual surplus forth,	10	·····/˘/˘·
To the poor Southron on his worn-out soil,	10	···/˘·····
Scathed by the curses of unnatural toil;	10	···/˘·˘/˘·
To Europe's exiles seeking home and rest,	10	·/˘/·/˘···
And the lank nomads of the wandering West,	10	···/···/˘·
Who, asking neither, in their love of change	10	·/˘/˘·····
And the free bison's amplitude of range,	10	···/˘/˘···
Rear the log-hut, for present shelter meant,	10	·····/˘/˘·
Not future comfort, like an Arab's tent."	10	·/˘/˘··/˘·
Then spake a shrewd on-looker, "Sir," said he,	10	·····/˘···
"I like your picture, but I fain would see	10	···/˘·····
A sketch of what your promised land will be	10	·····/˘···
When, with electric nerve, and fiery-brained,	10	··˘/˘··/˘·
With Nature's forces to its chariot chained,	10	·/˘/˘··/˘·
The future grasping, by the past obeyed,	10	·/˘/˘···˘/
The twentieth century rounds a new decade."	10	·/˘/˘···˘/
Then said the Showman, sadly: "He who grieves	10	···/˘/˘···
Over the scattering of the sibyl's leaves	10	··/˘˘··/˘·
Unwisely mourns. Suffice it, that we know	10	˘/˘·˘/····
What needs must ripen from the seed we sow;	10	···/˘·····
That present time is but the mould wherein	10	·/˘·······
We cast the shapes of holiness and sin.	10	·····/˘˘··
A painful watcher of the passing hour,	11	·/˘/˘··/˘/˘
Its lust of gold, its strife for place and power;	11	·········/˘
Its lack of manhood, honor, reverence, truth,	10	···/·/˘/˘·
Wise-thoughted age, and generous-hearted youth;	10	·/˘··/˘/˘·
Nor yet unmindful of each better sign,	10	·······/˘·
The low, far lights, which on th' horizon shine,	10	······˘/˘·
Like those which sometimes tremble on the rim	10	···/·/˘···
Of clouded skies when day is closing dim,	10	·/˘····/˘·
Flashing athwart the purple spears of rain	10	/˘˘/·/˘···
The hope of sunshine on the hills again	10	···/····˘/
I need no prophet's word, nor shapes that pass	10	···/˘·····
Like clouding shadows o'er a magic glass;	10	·/˘/···/˘·
For now, as ever, passionless and cold,	10	···/˘/˘˘··
Doth the dread angel of the future hold	10	···/˘··/˘·
Evil and good before us, with no voice	10	/˘········
Or warning look to guide us in our choice;	10	·/˘·····/·
With spectral hands outreaching through the gloom	10	·/˘·/·˘···
The shadowy contrasts of the coming doom.	10	·/˘/˘··/˘·
Transferred from these, it now remains to give	10	˘/····˘/··
The sun and shade of Fate's alternative."	10	······˘/˘˘
Then, with a burst of music, touching all	10	·····/˘/˘·
The keys of thrifty life,--the mill-stream's fall,	10	···/˘·····
The engine's pant along its quivering rails,	10	·/˘·˘/·/˘·
The anvil's ring, the measured beat of flails,	10	·/˘··/˘···
The sweep of scythes, the reaper's whistled tune,	10	·····/˘/˘·
Answering the summons of the bells of noon,	10	/˘·/˘·····
The woodman's hail along the river shores,	10	·/˘·˘/·/˘·
The steamboat's signal, and the dip of oars	10	·/·/˘·····
Slowly the curtain rose from off a land	10	/˘·/˘·····
Fair as God's garden. Broad on either hand	10	···/˘··/˘·
The golden wheat-fields glimmered in the sun,	10	·/˘··/˘···
And the tall maize its yellow tassels spun.	10	·····/˘/˘·
Smooth highways set with hedge-rows living green,	10	·/·····/˘·
With steepled towns through shaded vistas seen,	10	·/˘··/˘/˘·
The school-house murmuring with its hive-like swarm,	10	···/˘·····
The brook-bank whitening in the grist-mill's storm,	10	···/˘·····
The painted farm-house shining through the leaves	10	·/˘··/˘···
Of fruited orchards bending at its eaves,	10	·/˘/˘/˘···
Where live again, around the Western hearth,	10	··˘/···/˘·
The homely old-time virtues of the North;	10	·/˘··/˘···
Where the blithe housewife rises with the day,	10	···/·/˘···
And well-paid labor counts his task a play.	10	···/˘·····
And, grateful tokens of a Bible free,	10	·/˘/˘··/˘·
And the free Gospel of Humanity,	10	···/˘·˘/˘˘
Of diverse-sects and differing names the shrines,	10	·/··/˘˘···
One in their faith, whate'er their outward signs,	10	····˘˘/·/·
Like varying strophes of the same sweet hymn	10	·/˘˘······
From many a prairie's swell and river's brim,	10	·/·/˘··/˘·
A thousand church-spires sanctify the air	10	·/˘··/˘˘··
Of the calm Sabbath, with their sign of prayer.	10	···/˘·····
Like sudden nightfall over bloom and green	10	·/˘/······
The curtain dropped: and, momently, between	10	·/˘··/˘˘··
The clank of fetter and the crack of thong,	10	···/˘·····
Half sob, half laughter, music swept along;	10	···/˘/˘·˘/
A strange refrain, whose idle words and low,	10	··˘/·/˘···
Like drunken mourners, kept the time of woe;	10	·/˘/˘·····
As if the revellers at a masquerade	10	···/˘···˘/
Heard in the distance funeral marches played.	10	···/˘/˘/˘·
Such music, dashing all his smiles with tears,	10	·/˘/˘·····
The thoughtful voyager on Ponchartrain hears,	10	·/˘/˘·····
Where, through the noonday dusk of wooded shores	10	···/˘··/˘·
The negro boatman, singing to his oars,	10	·/˘/˘/˘···
With a wild pathos borrowed of his wrong	10	···/˘/····
Redeems the jargon of his senseless song.	10	˘/·/˘··/˘·
"Look," said the Showman, sternly, as he rolled	10	···/˘/˘···
His curtain upward. "Fate's reverse behold!"	10	·/˘/˘·˘/˘/
A village straggling in loose disarray	10	·/˘/˘···˘/
Of vulgar newness, premature decay;	10	·/˘/˘·˘/˘/
A tavern, crazy with its whiskey brawls,	10	·/˘/˘··/˘·
With "Slaves at Auction!" garnishing its walls;	10	···/˘/˘˘··
Without, surrounded by a motley crowd,	10	··˘/˘··/˘·
The shrewd-eyed salesman, garrulous and loud,	10	···/˘/˘˘··
A squire or colonel in his pride of place,	10	···/˘·····
Known at free fights, the caucus, and the race,	10	·····/˘···
Prompt to proclaim his honor without blot,	10	··˘/·/˘···
And silence doubters with a ten-pace shot,	10	·/˘/˘·····
Mingling the negro-driving bully's rant	10	/˘·/˘/˘/˘·
With pious phrase and democratic cant,	10	·/˘···˘/˘·
Yet never scrupling, with a filthy jest,	10	·//˘˘··/˘·
To sell the infant from its mother's breast,	10	···/˘··/˘·
Break through all ties of wedlock, home, and kin,	10	·····/····
Yield shrinking girlhood up to graybeard sin;	10	·/˘/···/˘·
Sell all the virtues with his human stock,	10	···/˘··/˘·
The Christian graces on his auction-block,	10	·/˘/˘··/˘·
And coolly count on shrewdest bargains driven	11	·/˘··/˘/˘/˘
In hearts regenerate, and in souls forgiven!	12	··˘/˘····˘/˘
Look once again! The moving canvas shows	10	··˘/·/˘/˘·
A slave plantation's slovenly repose,	10	···/˘/˘˘˘/
Where, in rude cabins rotting midst their weeds,	10	···/˘/˘···
The human chattel eats, and sleeps, and breeds;	10	·/˘/˘·····
And, held a brute, in practice, as in law,	10	·····/˘···
Becomes in fact the thing he's taken for.	10	˘/·····/˘·
There, early summoned to the hemp and corn,	10	·/˘/˘·····
The nursing mother leaves her child new-born;	10	·/˘/˘·····
There haggard sickness, weak and deathly faint,	10	·/˘/˘··/˘·
Crawls to his task, and fears to make complaint;	10	········˘/
And sad-eyed Rachels, childless in decay,	10	···/˘/˘·˘/
Weep for their lost ones sold and torn away!	10	········˘/
Of ampler size the master's dwelling stands,	10	·····/˘/˘·
In shabby keeping with his half-tilled lands;	10	·/˘/˘·····
The gates unhinged, the yard with weeds unclean,	10	··˘/····˘/
The cracked veranda with a tipsy lean.	10	··˘/˘··/˘·
Without, loose-scattered like a wreck adrift,	10	···/˘···˘/
Signs of misrule and tokens of unthrift;	10	··˘/·/˘·/˘
Within, profusion to discomfort joined,	10	··˘/˘·˘/˘·
The listless body and the vacant mind;	10	·/˘/˘··/˘·
The fear, the hate, the theft and falsehood, born	10	·······/··
In menial hearts of toil, and stripes, and scorn	10	·/˘·······
There, all the vices, which, like birds obscene,	10	···/˘···˘/
Batten on slavery loathsome and unclean,	10	/˘·/˘/˘·˘/
From the foul kitchen to the parlor rise,	10	···/˘··/˘·
Pollute the nursery where the child-heir lies,	10	˘/·/˘·····
Taint infant lips beyond all after cure,	10	·/˘·······
With the fell poison of a breast impure;	10	···/˘···˘/
Touch boyhood's passions with the breath of flame,	10	·/·/˘·····
From girlhood's instincts steal the blush of shame.	10	·/·/˘·····
So swells, from low to high, from weak to strong,	10	··········
The tragic chorus of the baleful wrong;	10	·/˘/˘··/˘·
Guilty or guiltless, all within its range	10	/˘·/˘·····
Feel the blind justice of its sure revenge.	10	···/˘···˘/
Still scenes like these the moving chart reveals.	10	·····/˘·˘/
Up the long western steppes the blighting steals;	10	···/˘··/˘·
Down the Pacific slope the evil Fate	10	··˘/˘··/˘·
Glides like a shadow to the Golden Gate	10	···/···/˘·
From sea to sea the drear eclipse is thrown,	10	······˘/··
From sea to sea the Mauvaises Terres have grown,	11	···········
A belt of curses on the New World's zone!	10	···/˘·····
The curtain fell. All drew a freer breath,	10	·/˘····/˘·
As men are wont to do when mournful death	10	·······/˘·
Is covered from their sight. The Showman stood	10	·/˘····/˘·
With drooping brow in sorrow's attitude	10	·/˘··/˘/˘·
One moment, then with sudden gesture shook	10	·/˘··/˘/˘·
His loose hair back, and with the air and look	10	··········
Of one who felt, beyond the narrow stage	10	·······/˘·
And listening group, the presence of the age,	10	·/˘··/˘···
And heard the footsteps of the things to be,	10	···/······
Poured out his soul in earnest words and free.	10	·····/˘···
"O friends!" he said, "in this poor trick of paint	10	··········
You see the semblance, incomplete and faint,	10	···/˘˘˘/··
Of the two-fronted Future, which, to-day,	10	···/˘/˘···
Stands dim and silent, waiting in your way.	10	···/˘/˘···
To-day, your servant, subject to your will;	10	···/˘/˘···
To-morrow, master, or for good or ill.	10	·/˘/˘·····
If the dark face of Slavery on you turns,	10	·····/˘···
If the mad curse its paper barrier spurns,	10	·····/˘/˘·
If the world granary of the West is made	11	···/˘˘·····
The last foul market of the slaver's trade,	10	···/˘·····
Why rail at fate? The mischief is your own.	10	·····/˘···
Why hate your neighbor? Blame yourselves	8	···/˘·˘/
alone!	2	˘/
"Men of the North! The South you charge with wrong	10	··········
Is weak and poor, while you are rich and strong.	10	··········
If questions,--idle and absurd as those	10	·/˘/˘·˘/··
The old-time monks and Paduan doctors chose,--	10	·······/˘·
Mere ghosts of questions, tariffs, and dead banks,	10	···/˘/˘···
And scarecrow pontiffs, never broke your ranks,	10	·/˘/˘/˘···
Your thews united could, at once, roll back	10	··˘/˘·····
The jostled nation to its primal track.	10	·/˘/˘··/˘·
Nay, were you simply steadfast, manly, just,	10	···/˘/·/˘·
True to the faith your fathers left in trust,	10	·····/˘···
If stainless honor outweighed in your scale	10	·/˘/˘˘/···
A codfish quintal or a factory bale,	10	·/˘/˘··/˘·
Full many a noble heart, (and such remain	10	·/·/˘···˘/
In all the South, like Lot in Siddim's plain,	10	··········
Who watch and wait, and from the wrong's control	10	········˘/
Keep white and pure their chastity of soul,)	10	·····/˘˘··
Now sick to loathing of your weak complaints,	10	···/˘···˘/
Your tricks as sinners, and your prayers as saints,	10	···/˘·····
Would half-way meet the frankness of your tone,	10	·····/˘···
And feel their pulses beating with your own.	10	···/˘/˘···
"The North! the South! no geographic line	10	······˘/˘·
Can fix the boundary or the point define,	10	···/˘···˘/
Since each with each so closely interblends,	10	·····/˘···
Where Slavery rises, and where Freedom ends.	10	·/˘/˘··/˘·
Beneath your rocks the roots, far-reaching, hide	10	·······/˘·
Of the fell Upas on the Southern side;	10	···/˘··/˘·
The tree whose branches in your northwinds wave	10	···/˘·····
Dropped its young blossoms on Mount Vernon's grave;	10	···/˘··/˘·
The nursling growth of Monticello's crest	10	·/˘···˘/˘·
Is now the glory of the free Northwest;	10	···/˘····/
To the wise maxims of her olden school	10	···/˘··/˘·
Virginia listened from thy lips, Rantoul;	10	˘/˘/˘····/
Seward's words of power, and Sumner's fresh renown,	11	/˘··/·/˘·˘/
Flow from the pen that Jefferson laid down!	10	·····/˘˘··
And when, at length, her years of madness o'er,	10	·······/˘·
Like the crowned grazer on Euphrates' shore,	10	···/˘·˘/˘·
From her long lapse to savagery, her mouth	11	·····/˘·˘··
Bitter with baneful herbage, turns the South,	10	/˘·/˘/˘···
Resumes her old attire, and seeks to smooth	10	˘/··˘/····
Her unkempt tresses at the glass of truth,	10	·˘//˘·····
Her early faith shall find a tongue again,	10	·/˘·····˘/
New Wythes and Pinckneys swell that old refrain,	10	···/˘···˘/
Her sons with yours renew the ancient pact,	10	····˘/·/˘·
The myth of Union prove at last a fact!	10	···/˘·····
Then, if one murmur mars the wide content,	10	···/˘···˘/
Some Northern lip will drawl the last dissent,	10	·/˘·····˘/
Some Union-saving patriot of your own	10	·/˘/˘/˘···
Lament to find his occupation gone.	10	˘/····˘/˘·
"Grant that the North 's insulted, scorned, betrayed,	11	·····˘/˘·˘/
O'erreached in bargains with her neighbor made,	10	···/˘··/˘·
When selfish thrift and party held the scales	10	·/˘··/˘···
For peddling dicker, not for honest sales,--	10	·/˘/˘··/˘·
Whom shall we strike? Who most deserves our blame?	10	······˘//·
The braggart Southron, open in his aim,	10	·/˘/˘/˘···
And bold as wicked, crashing straight through all	10	···/˘/˘···
That bars his purpose, like a cannon-ball?	10	···/˘··/˘·
Or the mean traitor, breathing northern air,	10	···/˘/˘/˘·
With nasal speech and puritanic hair,	10	·/˘·······
Whose cant the loss of principle survives,	10	·····/˘˘˘/
As the mud-turtle e'en its head outlives;	10	···/˘····/
Who, caught, chin-buried in some foul offence,	10	···/˘···˘/
Puts on a look of injured innocence,	10	·····/˘/˘˘
And consecrates his baseness to the cause	10	·/˘··/˘···
Of constitution, union, and the laws?	10	··˘/˘/˘···
"Praise to the place-man who can hold aloof	10	········˘/
His still unpurchased manhood, office-proof;	10	·····/·/˘·
Who on his round of duty walks erect,	10	·····/˘·˘/
And leaves it only rich in self-respect;	10	···/˘···˘/
As More maintained his virtue's lofty port	10	··˘/·/˘/˘·
In the Eighth Henry's base and bloody court.	10	···/˘··/˘·
But, if exceptions here and there are found,	10	··˘/˘·····
Who tread thus safely on enchanted ground,	10	···/˘·˘/˘·
The normal type, the fitting symbol still	10	·/˘··/˘/˘·
Of those who fatten at the public mill,	10	···/˘··/˘·
Is the chained dog beside his master's door,	10	····˘/·/˘·
Or Circe's victim, feeding on all four!	10	···/˘/˘···
"Give me the heroes who, at tuck of drum,	10	···/˘·····
Salute thy staff, immortal Quattlebum!	10	˘/··˘/˘···
Or they who, doubly armed with vote and gun,	10	···/˘·····
Following thy lead, illustrious Atchison,	11	/˘··˘/˘˘/˘˘
Their drunken franchise shift from scene to scene,	10	·/˘/······
As tile-beard Jourdan did his guillotine!	10	···˘/··/˘·
Rather than him who, born beneath our skies,	10	/˘······/·
To Slavery's hand its supplest tool supplies;	10	·/˘··/˘·˘/
The party felon whose unblushing face	10	·/˘/˘·˘/˘·
Looks from the pillory of his bribe of place,	10	···/˘·····
And coolly makes a merit of disgrace,	10	·/˘··/˘·˘/
Points to the footmarks of indignant scorn,	10	······˘/˘·
Shows the deep scars of satire's tossing horn;	10	·····/˘/˘·
And passes to his credit side the sum	10	·/˘··/˘···
Of all that makes a scoundrel's martyrdom!	10	·····/˘/˘˘
"Bane of the North, its canker and its moth!	10	·····/˘···
These modern Esaus, bartering rights for broth!	10	·/˘/·/˘···
Taxing our justice, with their double claim,	10	/˘//˘··/˘·
As fools for pity, and as knaves for blame;	10	···/˘·····
Who, urged by party, sect, or trade, within	10	···/˘·····
The fell embrace of Slavery's sphere of sin,	10	··˘/·/˘···
Part at the outset with their moral sense,	10	···/···/˘·
The watchful angel set for Truth's defence;	10	·/˘/˘···˘/
Confound all contrasts, good and ill; reverse	10	˘/·/˘···˘/
The poles of life, its blessing and its curse;	10	·····/˘···
And lose thenceforth from their perverted sight	10	···/··˘/˘·
The eternal difference 'twixt the wrong and right;	11	·˘/˘/˘·····
To them the Law is but the iron span	10	·······/˘·
That girds the ankles of imbruted man;	10	···/˘·····
To them the Gospel has no higher aim	10	···/˘··/˘·
Than simple sanction of the master's claim,	10	·/˘/˘··/˘·
Dragged in the slime of Slavery's loathsome trail,	10	·····/˘/˘·
Like Chalier's Bible at his ass's tail!	10	···/˘··/˘·
"Such are the men who, with instinctive dread,	10	······˘/˘·
Whenever Freedom lifts her drooping head,	10	˘/˘/˘··/˘·
Make prophet-tripods of their office-stools,	10	·/˘/···/˘·
And scare the nurseries and the village schools	10	···/˘··/˘·
With dire presage of ruin grim and great,	10	··/˘·/˘···
A broken Union and a foundered State!	10	·/˘/˘··/˘·
Such are the patriots, self-bound to the stake	10	···/˘·····
Of office, martyrs for their country's sake	10	·/˘/˘··/˘·
Who fill themselves the hungry jaws of Fate;	10	··˘/·/˘···
And by their loss of manhood save the State.	10	·····/····
In the wide gulf themselves like Cortius throw,	10	····˘/····
And test the virtues of cohesive dough;	10	···/˘·˘/˘·
As tropic monkeys, linking heads and tails,	10	·/˘/˘/˘···
Bridge o'er some torrent of Ecuador's vales!	10	···/˘·/˘··
"Such are the men who in your churches rave	10	·······/˘·
To swearing-point, at mention of the slave!	10	·/˘··/˘···
When some poor parson, haply unawares,	10	···/˘/˘·˘/
Stammers of freedom in his timid prayers;	10	/˘·/˘··/˘·
Who, if some foot-sore negro through the town	10	·····/˘···
Steals northward, volunteer to hunt him down.	10	·/˘·˘/····
Or, if some neighbor, flying from disease,	10	···/˘/˘·˘/
Courts the mild balsam of the Southern breeze,	10	···/˘··/˘·
With hue and cry pursue him on his track,	10	····˘/····
And write Free-soiler on the poor man's back.	10	··········
Such are the men who leave the pedler's cart,	10	··········
While faring South, to learn the driver's art,	10	·/˘····/˘·
Or, in white neckcloth, soothe with pious aim	10	···/˘··/˘·
The graceful sorrows of some languid dame,	10	·/˘/˘··/˘·
Who, from the wreck of her bereavement, saves	10	······˘/˘·
The double charm of widowhood and slaves	10	·/˘··/˘˘··
Pliant and apt, they lose no chance to show	10	/˘········
To what base depths apostasy can go;	10	····˘/˘˘··
Outdo the natives in their readiness	10	·/·/˘··/˘˘
To roast a negro, or to mob a press;	10	···/˘·····
Poise a tarred schoolmate on the lyncher's rail,	10	···/······
Or make a bonfire of their birthplace mail!	10	···/˘··/··
"So some poor wretch, whose lips no longer bear	10	·······/˘·
The sacred burden of his mother's prayer,	10	·/˘/˘··/˘·
By fear impelled, or lust of gold enticed,	10	··˘/····˘/
Turns to the Crescent from the Cross of Christ,	10	···/˘·····
And, over-acting in superfluous zeal,	10	···/˘·/˘··
Crawls prostrate where the faithful only kneel,	10	·/˘··/˘/˘·
Out-howls the Dervish, hugs his rags to court	10	···/˘·····
The squalid Santon's sanctity of dirt;	10	·/˘/˘/˘˘··
And, when beneath the city gateway's span	10	·····/˘/··
Files slow and long the Meccan caravan,	10	·······/˘·
And through its midst, pursued by Islam's prayers,	10	····˘/·/··
The prophet's Word some favored camel bears,	10	·/˘··/˘/˘·
The marked apostate has his place assigned	10	··˘/˘···˘/
The Koran-bearer's sacred rump behind,	10	·˘//˘/˘···
With brush and pitcher following, grave and mute,	10	···/˘/˘···
In meek attendance on the holy brute!	10	··˘/˘··/˘·
"Men of the North! beneath your very eyes,	10	·······/˘·
By hearth and home, your real danger lies.	9	······/˘·
Still day by day some hold of freedom falls	10	·······/˘·
Through home-bred traitors fed within its walls.	10	···/˘·····
Men whom yourselves with vote and purse sustain,	10	··˘/····˘/
At posts of honor, influence, and gain;	10	···/˘/˘˘··
The right of Slavery to your sons to teach,	10	···/˘·····
And 'South-side' Gospels in your pulpits preach,	10	···/˘··/˘·
Transfix the Law to ancient freedom dear	10	˘/···/˘/˘·
On the sharp point of her subverted spear,	10	······˘/˘·
And imitate upon her cushion plump	10	·/˘····/˘·
The mad Missourian lynching from his stump;	10	··˘/˘/˘···
Or, in your name, upon the Senate's floor	10	·······/˘·

The first 400 of 598 lines; the reader marks them all.

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.

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