To Delaware
THRICE welcome to thy sisters of the East,To the strong tillers of a rugged home,With spray-wet locks to Northern winds released,And hardy feet o'erswept by ocean's foam;And to the young nymphs of the golden West,Whose harvest mantles, fringed with prairie bloom,Trail in the sunset,--O redeemed and blest,To the warm welcome of thy sisters come!Broad Pennsylvania, down her sail-white bayShall give thee joy, and Jersey from her plains,And the great lakes, where echo, free alway,Moaned never shoreward with the clank of chains,Shall weave new sun-bows in their tossing spray,And all their waves keep grateful holiday.And, smiling on thee through her mountain rains,Vermont shall bless thee; and the granite peaks,And vast Katahdin o'er his woods, shall wearTheir snow-crowns brighter in the cold, keen air;And Massachusetts, with her rugged cheeksO'errun with grateful tears, shall turn to thee,When, at thy bidding, the electric wireShall tremble northward with its words of fire;Glory and praise to God! another State is free!
Words in this poem
- 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,]
- shoreward adv.
- Toward the shore.
- 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.]
- northward a.
- Toward the north; nearer to the north than to the east or west point. [AS. noredhweard.]
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
To Delaware 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, To Delaware, 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/to-delaware.html, id L24877.
Form and metre
To Delaware is 23 lines in a single stanza. The metre is iambic pentameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 89%).
See 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 ABABC-CBDE-EDDEFGGFHIIH eastA · homeB · releasedA · foamB · westC · bloom · blestC · comeB · bayD · plainsE · alway · chainsE · sprayD · holidayD · rainsE · peaksF · wearG · airG · cheeksF · theeH · wireI · fireI · freeH
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 |
|---|---|---|
| THRICE welcome to thy sisters of the East, | 10 | ·/˘··/˘··· |
| To the strong tillers of a rugged home, | 10 | ···/˘··/˘· |
| With spray-wet locks to Northern winds released, | 10 | ·····/˘·˘/ |
| And hardy feet o'erswept by ocean's foam; | 10 | ·/˘····/˘· |
| And to the young nymphs of the golden West, | 10 | ·······/˘· |
| Whose harvest mantles, fringed with prairie bloom, | 10 | ·/˘/˘··/˘· |
| Trail in the sunset,--O redeemed and blest, | 10 | ···/··˘/·· |
| To the warm welcome of thy sisters come! | 10 | ···/˘··/˘· |
| Broad Pennsylvania, down her sail-white bay | 10 | ··˘/˘····· |
| Shall give thee joy, and Jersey from her plains, | 10 | ·····/˘··· |
| And the great lakes, where echo, free alway, | 10 | ·····/˘·/˘ |
| Moaned never shoreward with the clank of chains, | 10 | ·/˘/˘····· |
| Shall weave new sun-bows in their tossing spray, | 10 | ·······/˘· |
| And all their waves keep grateful holiday. | 10 | ·····/˘/˘· |
| And, smiling on thee through her mountain rains, | 10 | ·/˘····/˘· |
| Vermont shall bless thee; and the granite peaks, | 10 | ˘/·····/˘· |
| And vast Katahdin o'er his woods, shall wear | 10 | ·········· |
| Their snow-crowns brighter in the cold, keen air; | 10 | ···/˘····· |
| And Massachusetts, with her rugged cheeks | 10 | ··˘/˘··/˘· |
| O'errun with grateful tears, shall turn to thee, | 10 | ···/˘····· |
| When, at thy bidding, the electric wire | 11 | ···/˘·˘/˘/˘ |
| Shall tremble northward with its words of fire; | 11 | ·/˘/˘····/˘ |
| Glory and praise to God! another State is free! | 12 | /˘····˘/˘··· |
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.