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

The Relic

John Greenleaf Whittier (1807–1892) · 1865

iambic tetrameter · ABABCC · 84 lines · from Anti-Slavery Poems and Songs of Labor and Reform

TOKEN of friendship true and tried,From one whose fiery heart of youthWith mine has beaten, side by side,For Liberty and Truth;With honest pride the gift I take,And prize it for the giver's sake.

But not alone because it tellsOf generous hand and heart sincere;Around that gift of friendship dwellsA memory doubly dear;Earth's noblest aim, man's holiest thought,With that memorial frail in wrought!

Pure thoughts and sweet like flowers unfold,And precious memories round it cling,Even as the Prophet's rod of oldIn beauty blossoming:And buds of feeling, pure and good,Spring from its cold unconscious wood.

Relic of Freedom's shrine! a brandPlucked from its burning! let it beDear as a jewel from the handOf a lost friend to me!Flower of a perished garland left,Of life and beauty unbereft!

Oh, if the young enthusiast bears,O'er weary waste and sea, the stoneWhich crumbled from the Forum's stairs,Or round the Parthenon;Or olive-bough from some wild treeHung over old Thermopylae:

If leaflets from some hero's tomb,Or moss-wreath torn from ruins hoary;Or faded flowers whose sisters bloomOn fields renowned in story;Or fragment from the Alhambra's crest,Or the gray rock by Druids blessed;

Sad Erin's shamrock greenly growingWhere Freedom led her stalwart kern,Or Scotia's "rough bur thistle" blowingOn Bruce's Bannockburn;Or Runnymede's wild English rose,Or lichen plucked from Sempach's snows!

If it be true that things like theseTo heart and eye bright visions bring,Shall not far holier memoriesTo this memorial clingWhich needs no mellowing mist of timeTo hide the crimson stains of crime!

Wreck of a temple, unprofaned;Of courts where Peace with Freedom trod,Lifting on high, with hands unstained,Thanksgiving unto God;Where Mercy's voice of love was pleadingFor human hearts in bondage bleeding;

Where, midst the sound of rushing feetAnd curses on the night-air flung,That pleading voice rose calm and sweetFrom woman's earnest tongue;And Riot turned his scowling glance,Awed, from her tranquil countenance!

That temple now in ruin lies!The fire-stain on its shattered wall,And open to the changing skiesIts black and roofless hall,It stands before a nation's sight,A gravestone over buried Right!

But from that ruin, as of old,The fire-scorched stones themselves are crying,And from their ashes white and coldIts timbers are replying!A voice which slavery cannot killSpeaks from the crumbling arches still!

And even this relic from thy shrine,O holy Freedom! Hath to meA potent power, a voice and signTo testify of thee;And, grasping it, methinks I feelA deeper faith, a stronger zeal.

And not unlike that mystic rod,Of old stretched o'er the Egyptian wave,Which opened, in the strength of God,A pathway for the slave,It yet may point the bondman's way,And turn the spoiler from his prey.

Words in this poem 16

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.]
unbereft a.: Not bereft; not taken away.
hoary a.: White or whitish."The hoary willows."
shamrock n.: A trifoliate plant used as a national emblem by the Irish. The legend is that St. Patrick once plucked a leaf of it for use in illustrating the doctrine of the trinity. [L. seamrog, seamar, trefoil, white clover, white honeysuckle; akin to Gael. seamrag.]
greenly adv.: With a green color; newly; freshly, immaturely.
stalwart a.: Brave; bold; strong; redoubted; daring; vehement; violent. [OE. stalworth, AS. stælwyrth serviceable, probably originally, good at stealing, or worth stealing or taking, and afterwards extended to other causes of estimat]
kern v. i.: To harden, as corn in ripening. Carew. [Cf. G. kern kernel, grain; akin to E. corn. See Corn, Kernel.]
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,]
needs adv.: Of necessity; necessarily; indispensably; -- often with must, and equivalent to of need. [Orig. gen. of need, used as an adverb. Cf. - wards.]
thanksgiving n.: The act of rending thanks, or expressing gratitude for favors or mercies.
roofless a.: Having no roof; as, a roofless house.
gravestone n.: A stone laid over, or erected near, a grave, usually with an inscription, to preserve the memory of the dead; a tombstone.
testify v. i.: To make a solemn declaration, verbal or written, to establish some fact; to give testimony for the purpose of communicating to others a knowledge of something not known to them. [OF. testifier, L. testificari; testis a witness + -ficare (in comp.) to make. See -fy, and cf. Attest, Contest, Detest, Protest, Testament.]
methinks v.: It seems to me; I think. See Me. [AS. þyncan to seem, me þynceedh, me þuhte, OE. me thinketh, me thoughte; akin to G. dünken to seem, denken to think, and E. think. See Me, and Think.]
pathway n.: A footpath; a beaten track; any path or course. Also used figuratively.
spoiler n.: One who spoils; a plunderer; a pillager; a robber; a despoiler.

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

About this text

The Relic 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 Relic, 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-relic.html, id L24858.

Form and metre

The Relic is 84 lines in 14 stanzas of 6 lines each. The rhyme scheme is ABABCC, complete in 12 of its 14 stanzas. The metre is iambic tetrameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 90%).

See other poems in iambic tetrameter.

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 ABABCC tried^A · youth^B · side^A · truth^B · take^C · sake^C
2 ABABCC tells^A · sincere^B · dwells^A · dear^B · thought^C · wrought^C
3 ABABCC unfold^A · cling^B · old^A · blossoming^B · good^C · wood^C
4 ABABCC brand^A · be^B · hand^A · me^B · left^C · unbereft^C
5 A-A--- bears^A · stone · stairs^A · parthenon · tree · thermopylae
6 ABABCC tomb^A · hoary^B · bloom^A · story^B · crest^C · blessed^C
7 A-A-BB growing^A · kern · blowing^A · bannockburn · rose^B · snows^B
8 ABABCC these^A · bring^B · memories^A · cling^B · time^C · crime^C
9 ABABCC unprofaned^A · trod^B · unstained^A · god^B · pleading^C · bleeding^C
10 ABABCC feet^A · flung^B · sweet^A · tongue^B · glance^C · countenance^C
11 ABABCC lies^A · wall^B · skies^A · hall^B · sight^C · right^C
12 ABABCC old^A · crying^B · cold^A · replying^B · kill^C · still^C
13 ABABCC shrine^A · me^B · sign^A · thee^B · feel^C · zeal^C
14 ABABCC rod^A · wave^B · god^A · slave^B · way^C · prey^C

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 tetrameter. How this is done.

Line	Syl.	Stress
TOKEN of friendship true and tried,	8	/˘·/˘···
From one whose fiery heart of youth	8	···/˘···
With mine has beaten, side by side,	8	···/˘···
For Liberty and Truth;	6	·/˘˘··
With honest pride the gift I take,	8	·/˘·····
And prize it for the giver's sake.	8	·····/˘·
But not alone because it tells	8	··˘/····
Of generous hand and heart sincere;	8	·/˘···˘/
Around that gift of friendship dwells	8	·····/˘·
A memory doubly dear;	7	·/˘˘/˘·
Earth's noblest aim, man's holiest thought,	8	·/˘··/˘·
With that memorial frail in wrought!	8	··˘/˘···
Pure thoughts and sweet like flowers unfold,	8	·····/˘/
And precious memories round it cling,	8	·/˘/˘···
Even as the Prophet's rod of old	8	/··/˘···
In beauty blossoming:	6	·/˘/˘˘
And buds of feeling, pure and good,	8	···/˘···
Spring from its cold unconscious wood.	8	·····/˘·
Relic of Freedom's shrine! a brand	8	/˘·/˘···
Plucked from its burning! let it be	8	···/˘···
Dear as a jewel from the hand	8	···/˘···
Of a lost friend to me!	6	······
Flower of a perished garland left,	8	/··/˘/˘·
Of life and beauty unbereft!	8	···/˘···
Oh, if the young enthusiast bears,	9	····˘/˘··
O'er weary waste and sea, the stone	8	·/˘·····
Which crumbled from the Forum's stairs,	8	·/˘··/˘·
Or round the Parthenon;	6	···/˘·
Or olive-bough from some wild tree	8	·/˘·····
Hung over old Thermopylae:	7	·······
If leaflets from some hero's tomb,	8	·/˘··/˘·
Or moss-wreath torn from ruins hoary;	9	·····/˘/˘
Or faded flowers whose sisters bloom	8	·/˘/·/˘·
On fields renowned in story;	8	··˘/˘·/˘
Or fragment from the Alhambra's crest,	9	·/˘··˘/˘·
Or the gray rock by Druids blessed;	8	·····/˘·
Sad Erin's shamrock greenly growing	9	·/˘/·/˘/˘
Where Freedom led her stalwart kern,	8	·/˘··/˘·
Or Scotia's "rough bur thistle" blowing	9	·/˘··/˘/˘
On Bruce's Bannockburn;	6	·/˘···
Or Runnymede's wild English rose,	8	·····/˘·
Or lichen plucked from Sempach's snows!	8	·/˘·····
If it be true that things like these	8	········
To heart and eye bright visions bring,	8	·····/˘·
Shall not far holier memories	9	···/˘˘/˘˘
To this memorial cling	7	··˘/˘˘·
Which needs no mellowing mist of time	8	···/˘···
To hide the crimson stains of crime!	8	···/˘···
Wreck of a temple, unprofaned;	8	···/˘···
Of courts where Peace with Freedom trod,	8	·····/˘·
Lifting on high, with hands unstained,	8	/˘····˘/
Thanksgiving unto God;	6	·/˘···
Where Mercy's voice of love was pleading	9	·/˘····/˘
For human hearts in bondage bleeding;	9	·/˘··/˘/˘
Where, midst the sound of rushing feet	8	·····/˘·
And curses on the night-air flung,	8	·/˘·····
That pleading voice rose calm and sweet	8	·/˘·····
From woman's earnest tongue;	6	·/˘/˘·
And Riot turned his scowling glance,	8	·/˘··/˘·
Awed, from her tranquil countenance!	8	···/˘/˘˘
That temple now in ruin lies!	8	·/˘··/˘·
The fire-stain on its shattered wall,	8	·/···/˘·
And open to the changing skies	8	·/˘··/˘·
Its black and roofless hall,	6	···/˘·
It stands before a nation's sight,	8	·····/˘·
A gravestone over buried Right!	8	·/···/˘·
But from that ruin, as of old,	8	···/˘···
The fire-scorched stones themselves are crying,	9	·/··˘/·/˘
And from their ashes white and cold	8	···/˘···
Its timbers are replying!	7	·/˘·˘/˘
A voice which slavery cannot kill	8	···/˘/˘·
Speaks from the crumbling arches still!	8	···/˘/˘·
And even this relic from thy shrine,	8	·/·/˘···
O holy Freedom! Hath to me	8	·/˘/˘···
A potent power, a voice and sign	8	·/˘/····
To testify of thee;	6	·/˘···
And, grasping it, methinks I feel	8	·/˘·˘/··
A deeper faith, a stronger zeal.	8	·/˘··/˘·
And not unlike that mystic rod,	8	··˘/·/˘·
Of old stretched o'er the Egyptian wave,	9	·····˘/˘·
Which opened, in the strength of God,	8	·/˘·····
A pathway for the slave,	6	·/····
It yet may point the bondman's way,	8	········
And turn the spoiler from his prey.	8	···/˘···

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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