The Yankee Girl
SHE sings by her wheel at that low cottage-door,Which the long evening shadow is stretching before,With a music as sweet as the music which seemsBreathed softly and faint in the ear of our dreams!
How brilliant and mirthful the light of her eye,Like a star glancing out from the blue of the sky!And lightly and freely her dark tresses playO'er a brow and a bosom as lovely as they!
Who comes in his pride to that low cottage-door,The haughty and rich to the humble and poor?'T is the great Southern planter, the master who wavesHis whip of dominion o'er hundreds of slaves.
"Nay, Ellen, for shame! Let those Yankee fools spin,Who would pass for our slaves with a change of their skin;Let them toil as they will at the loom or the wheel,Too stupid for shame, and too vulgar to feel!
"But thou art too lovely and precious a gemTo be bound to their burdens and sullied by them;For shame, Ellen, shame, cast thy bondage aside,And away to the South, as my blessing and pride.
"Oh, come where no winter thy footsteps can wrong,But where flowers are blossoming all the year long,Where the shade of the palm-tree is over my home,And the lemon and orange are white in their bloom!
"Oh, come to my home, where my servants shall allDepart at thy bidding and come at thy call;They shall heed thee as mistress with trembling and awe,And each wish of thy heart shall be felt as a law."
"Oh, could ye have seen her--that pride of our girls--Arise and cast back the dark wealth of her curls,With a scorn in her eye which the gazer could feel,And a glance like the sunshine that flashes on steel!
"Go back, haughty Southron! thy treasures of goldAre dim with the blood of the hearts thou halt sold;Thy home may be lovely, but round it I hearThe crack of the whip and the footsteps of fear!
"And the sky of thy South may be brighter than ours,And greener thy landscapes, and fairer thy' flowers;But dearer the blast round our mountains which raves,Than the sweet summer zephyr which breathes over slaves!
"Full low at thy bidding thy negroes may kneel,With the iron of bondage on spirit and heel;Yet know that the Yankee girl sooner would beIn fetters with them, than in freedom with thee!"
Words in this poem
- glancing a.
- Shooting, as light.
- haughty a.
- High; lofty; bold. [OE. hautein, F. hautain, fr. haut high, OF. also halt, fr. L. altus. See Altitude.]
- planter n.
- One who, or that which, plants or sows; as, a planterof corn; a machine planter.
- 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,]
- depart v. i.
- To part; to divide; to separate. [OE. departen to divide, part, depart, F. départir to divide, distribute, se départir to separate one's self, depart; pref. dé- (L. de) + partir to part, depart,]
- wealth n.
- Weal; welfare; prosperity; good. [OE. welthe, from wele; cf. D. weelde luxury. See Weal prosperity.]
- 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.
- southron n.
- An inhabitant of the more southern part of a country; formerly, a name given in Scotland to any Englishman.
- zephyr n.
- The west wind; poetically, any soft, gentle breeze. [L. zephyrus, Gr. zéphyr.]
- 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.]
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
The Yankee Girl 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 Yankee Girl, 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-yankee-girl.html, id L24845.
Form and metre
The Yankee Girl is 44 lines in 11 stanzas of 4 lines each. The rhyme scheme is AABB, complete in 9 of its 11 stanzas. The metre is anapaestic tetrameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 90%).
See other poems in anapaestic 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 AABB doorA · beforeA · seemsB · dreamsB
- 2 AABB eyeA · skyA · playB · theyB
- 3 --AA door · poor · wavesA · slavesA
- 4 AABB spinA · skinA · wheelB · feelB
- 5 AABB gemA · themA · asideB · prideB
- 6 AA-- wrongA · longA · home · bloom
- 7 AABB allA · callA · aweB · lawB
- 8 AABB girlsA · curlsA · feelB · steelB
- 9 AABB goldA · soldA · hearB · fearB
- 10 AABB oursA · flowersA · ravesB · slavesB
- 11 AABB kneelA · heelA · beB · theeB
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 anapaestic tetrameter. How this is done.
| Line | Syl. | Stress |
|---|---|---|
| SHE sings by her wheel at that low cottage-door, | 11 | ········/˘· |
| Which the long evening shadow is stretching before, | 12 | ···/˘/··/˘·· |
| With a music as sweet as the music which seems | 12 | ··/˘····/˘·· |
| Breathed softly and faint in the ear of our dreams! | 11 | ·/˘······/· |
| How brilliant and mirthful the light of her eye, | 11 | ·/˘·/˘····· |
| Like a star glancing out from the blue of the sky! | 12 | ···/˘······· |
| And lightly and freely her dark tresses play | 11 | ·/˘·/˘··/˘· |
| O'er a brow and a bosom as lovely as they! | 12 | ·····/˘·/˘·· |
| Who comes in his pride to that low cottage-door, | 11 | ········/˘· |
| The haughty and rich to the humble and poor? | 11 | ·/˘····/˘·· |
| 'T is the great Southern planter, the master who waves | 13 | ····/˘/˘·/˘·· |
| His whip of dominion o'er hundreds of slaves. | 11 | ···˘/˘·/˘·· |
| "Nay, Ellen, for shame! Let those Yankee fools spin, | 11 | ·/˘····/˘·· |
| Who would pass for our slaves with a change of their skin; | 12 | ····/······· |
| Let them toil as they will at the loom or the wheel, | 12 | ············ |
| Too stupid for shame, and too vulgar to feel! | 11 | ·/˘····/˘·· |
| "But thou art too lovely and precious a gem | 11 | ····/˘·/˘·· |
| To be bound to their burdens and sullied by them; | 12 | ·····/˘·/˘·· |
| For shame, Ellen, shame, cast thy bondage aside, | 11 | ··/˘···/˘˘/ |
| And away to the South, as my blessing and pride. | 12 | ·˘/·····/˘·· |
| "Oh, come where no winter thy footsteps can wrong, | 11 | ····/˘·/··· |
| But where flowers are blossoming all the year long, | 11 | ··/·/˘˘···· |
| Where the shade of the palm-tree is over my home, | 11 | ··········· |
| And the lemon and orange are white in their bloom! | 12 | ··/˘·/˘····· |
| "Oh, come to my home, where my servants shall all | 11 | ·······/˘·· |
| Depart at thy bidding and come at thy call; | 11 | ˘/··/˘····· |
| They shall heed thee as mistress with trembling and awe, | 12 | ·····/˘·/˘·· |
| And each wish of thy heart shall be felt as a law." | 12 | ············ |
| "Oh, could ye have seen her--that pride of our girls-- | 11 | ·········/· |
| Arise and cast back the dark wealth of her curls, | 11 | ˘/········· |
| With a scorn in her eye which the gazer could feel, | 12 | ········/˘·· |
| And a glance like the sunshine that flashes on steel! | 12 | ·····/··/˘·· |
| "Go back, haughty Southron! thy treasures of gold | 11 | ··/˘/˘·/˘·· |
| Are dim with the blood of the hearts thou halt sold; | 11 | ··········· |
| Thy home may be lovely, but round it I hear | 11 | ····/˘····· |
| The crack of the whip and the footsteps of fear! | 11 | ·······/··· |
| "And the sky of thy South may be brighter than ours, | 12 | ········/·/˘ |
| And greener thy landscapes, and fairer thy' flowers; | 12 | ·/˘·/··/˘·/˘ |
| But dearer the blast round our mountains which raves, | 11 | ·/˘···//˘·· |
| Than the sweet summer zephyr which breathes over slaves! | 11 | ···/˘/˘···· |
| "Full low at thy bidding thy negroes may kneel, | 11 | ····/˘·/˘·· |
| With the iron of bondage on spirit and heel; | 11 | ··/·/˘·/˘·· |
| Yet know that the Yankee girl sooner would be | 11 | ····/˘·/˘·· |
| In fetters with them, than in freedom with thee!" | 11 | ·/˘····/˘·· |
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