The Peace Autumn
THANK God for rest, where none molest,And none can make afraid;For Peace that sits as Plenty's guestBeneath the homestead shade!
Bring pike and gun, the sword's red scourge,The negro's broken chains,And beat them at the blacksmith's forgeTo ploughshares for our plains.
Alike henceforth our hills of snow,And vales where cotton flowers;All streams that flow, all winds that blow,Are Freedom's motive-powers.
Henceforth to Labor's chivalryBe knightly honors paid;For nobler than the sword's shall beThe sickle's accolade.
Build up an altar to the Lord,O grateful hearts of oursAnd shape it of the greenest swardThat ever drank the showers.
Lay all the bloom of gardens there,And there the orchard fruits;Bring golden grain from sun and air,From earth her goodly roots.
There let our banners droop and flow,The stars uprise and fall;Our roll of martyrs, sad and slow,Let sighing breezes call.
Their names let hands of horn and tanAnd rough-shod feet applaud,Who died to make the slave a man,And link with toil reward.
There let the common heart keep timeTo such an anthem sungAs never swelled on poet's rhyme,Or thrilled on singer's tongue.
Song of our burden and relief,Of peace and long annoy;The passion of our mighty griefAnd our exceeding joy!
A song of praise to Him who filledThe harvests sown in tears,And gave each field a double yieldTo feed our battle-years.
A song of faith that trusts the endTo match the good begun,Nor doubts the power of Love to blendThe hearts of men as one!
Words in this poem
- thank n.
- A expression of gratitude; an acknowledgment expressive of a sense of favor or kindness received; obligation, claim, or desert, or gratitude; -- now generally used in the plural. [AS. Þanc, Þonc, thanks, favor, thought; akin to OS. thank favor, pleasure, thanks, D. & G. dank thanks, Icel. Þ\'94kk, Dan. tak, Sw. tack, Goth. Þagks thanks; -]
- molest v. t.
- To trouble; to disturb; to render uneasy; to interfere with; to vex. [F. molester, L. molestare, fr. molestus troublesome, fr. moles a heavy mass, load, burden. See 3d Mole.]
- scourge n.
- A lash; a strap or cord; especially, a lash used to inflict pain or punishment; an instrument of punishment or discipline; a whip. [F. escourgée, fr. L. excoriata (sc. scutica) a stripped off (lash or whip), fr. excoriate to strip, to skin. See Excoriate.]
- henceforth adv.
- From this time forward; henceforward.
- knightly a.
- Of or pertaining to a knight; becoming a knight; chivalrous; as, a knightly combat; a knightly spirit. [AS. cnihtlic boyish.]
- 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,]
- accolade n.
- A ceremony formerly used in conferring knighthood, consisting am embrace, and a slight blow on the shoulders with the flat blade of a sword. [F. accolade, It. accolata, fr. accollare to embrace; L. ad + collum neck.]
- drank n.
- Wild oats, or darnel grass. See Drake a plant. [Cf. 3d Drake.]
- goodly a.
- Pleasant; agreeable; desirable. [OE. godlich, AS. g. See Good, and Like.]
- uprise v. i.
- To rise; to get up; to appear from below the horizon.
- anthem v. t.
- To celebrate with anthems.
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
The Peace Autumn 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 Peace Autumn, 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-peace-autumn.html, id L24927.
Form and metre
The Peace Autumn is 48 lines in 12 stanzas of 4 lines each. The rhyme scheme is ABAB, complete in 8 of its 12 stanzas. 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 ABAB molestA · afraidB · guestA · shadeB
- 2 -A-A scourge · chainsA · forge · plainsA
- 3 ABAB snowA · flowersB · blowA · powersB
- 4 -A-A chivalry · paidA · be · accoladeA
- 5 ABAB lordA · oursB · swardA · showersB
- 6 ABAB thereA · fruitsB · airA · rootsB
- 7 ABAB flowA · fallB · slowA · callB
- 8 A-A- tanA · applaud · manA · reward
- 9 ABAB timeA · sungB · rhymeA · tongueB
- 10 ABAB reliefA · annoyB · griefA · joyB
- 11 -A-A filled · tearsA · yield · yearsA
- 12 ABAB endA · begunB · blendA · oneB
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 |
|---|---|---|
| THANK God for rest, where none molest, | 8 | ······˘/ |
| And none can make afraid; | 6 | ····˘/ |
| For Peace that sits as Plenty's guest | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| Beneath the homestead shade! | 6 | ···/·· |
| Bring pike and gun, the sword's red scourge, | 8 | ········ |
| The negro's broken chains, | 6 | ·/˘/˘· |
| And beat them at the blacksmith's forge | 8 | ·····/·· |
| To ploughshares for our plains. | 7 | ·/˘·/˘· |
| Alike henceforth our hills of snow, | 8 | ˘////··· |
| And vales where cotton flowers; | 7 | ···/˘/˘ |
| All streams that flow, all winds that blow, | 8 | ········ |
| Are Freedom's motive-powers. | 7 | ·/˘/˘/˘ |
| Henceforth to Labor's chivalry | 8 | //·/˘/˘˘ |
| Be knightly honors paid; | 6 | ·/˘/˘· |
| For nobler than the sword's shall be | 8 | ·/˘····· |
| The sickle's accolade. | 6 | ·/˘/˘· |
| Build up an altar to the Lord, | 8 | ···/˘··· |
| O grateful hearts of ours | 7 | ·/˘··/˘ |
| And shape it of the greenest sward | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| That ever drank the showers. | 7 | ·/˘··/˘ |
| Lay all the bloom of gardens there, | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| And there the orchard fruits; | 6 | ···/˘· |
| Bring golden grain from sun and air, | 8 | ·/˘····· |
| From earth her goodly roots. | 6 | ···/˘· |
| There let our banners droop and flow, | 8 | ··//˘··· |
| The stars uprise and fall; | 6 | ··/˘·· |
| Our roll of martyrs, sad and slow, | 8 | /··/˘··· |
| Let sighing breezes call. | 6 | ·/˘/˘· |
| Their names let hands of horn and tan | 8 | ········ |
| And rough-shod feet applaud, | 6 | ····˘/ |
| Who died to make the slave a man, | 8 | ········ |
| And link with toil reward. | 6 | ····˘/ |
| There let the common heart keep time | 8 | ···/˘··· |
| To such an anthem sung | 6 | ···/˘· |
| As never swelled on poet's rhyme, | 8 | ·/˘··/˘· |
| Or thrilled on singer's tongue. | 6 | ···/˘· |
| Song of our burden and relief, | 8 | ··//˘·˘/ |
| Of peace and long annoy; | 6 | ····˘/ |
| The passion of our mighty grief | 8 | ·/˘·//˘· |
| And our exceeding joy! | 7 | ·/˘˘/˘· |
| A song of praise to Him who filled | 8 | ········ |
| The harvests sown in tears, | 6 | ·/˘··· |
| And gave each field a double yield | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| To feed our battle-years. | 7 | ··/˘/˘· |
| A song of faith that trusts the end | 8 | ········ |
| To match the good begun, | 6 | ····˘/ |
| Nor doubts the power of Love to blend | 8 | ···/···· |
| The hearts of men as one! | 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.