To Massachusetts
WHAT though around thee blazesNo fiery rallying sign?From all thy own high places,Give heaven the light of thine!What though unthrilled, unmoving,The statesman stand apart,And comes no warm approvingFrom Mammon's crowded mart?
Still, let the land be shakenBy a summons of thine own!By all save truth forsaken,Stand fast with that alone!Shrink not from strife unequal!With the best is always hope;And ever in the sequelGod holds the right side up!
But when, with thine uniting,Come voices long and loud,And far-off hills are writingThy fire-words on the cloud;When from Penobscot's fountainsA deep response is heard,And across the Western mountainsRolls back thy rallying word;
Shall thy line of battle falter,With its allies just in view?Oh, by hearth and holy altar,My fatherland, be true!Fling abroad thy scrolls of FreedomSpeed them onward far and fastOver hill and valley speed them,Like the sibyl's on the blast!
Lo! the Empire State is shakingThe shackles from her hand;With the rugged North is wakingThe level sunset land!On they come, the free battalionsEast and West and North they come,And the heart-beat of the millionsIs the beat of Freedom's drum.
"To the tyrant's plot no favorNo heed to place-fed knaves!Bar and bolt the door foreverAgainst the land of slaves!"Hear it, mother Earth, and hear it,The heavens above us spread!The land is roused,--its spiritWas sleeping, but not dead!
Words in this poem
- approving a.
- Expressing approbation; commending; as, an approving smile.
- mart v. t.
- To buy or sell in, or as in, a mart.
- strife n.
- The act of striving; earnest endeavor. [OF. estrif. See Strive.]
- sequel n.
- That which follows; a succeeding part; continuation; as, the sequel of a man's advantures or history. [L. sequela, fr. sequit to follow: cf. F. séquelle a following. See Sue to follow.]
- 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,]
- falter v. t.
- To thrash in the chaff; also, to cleanse or sift, as barley.
- fatherland n.
- One's native land; the native land of one's fathers or ancestors. [Imitated fr. D. vaderland. See Father, and Land.]
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
To Massachusetts 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 Massachusetts, 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-massachusetts.html, id L24865.
Form and metre
To Massachusetts is 48 lines in 6 stanzas of 8 lines each. The commonest rhyme scheme is ABABCDCD, in 2 of the 6 stanzas; the rest vary or could not be confirmed. The metre is iambic tetrameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 86%).
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 -A-ABCBC blazes · signA · places · thineA · unmovingB · apartC · approvingB · martC
- 2 ABABC-C- shakenA · ownB · forsakenA · aloneB · unequalC · hope · sequelC · up
- 3 ABABCDCD unitingA · loudB · writingA · cloudB · fountainsC · heardD · mountainsC · wordD
- 4 ABABCDCD falterA · viewB · altarA · trueB · freedomC · fastD · themC · blastD
- 5 ABAB-C-C shakingA · handB · wakingA · landB · battalions · comeC · millions · drumC
- 6 -A-ABCBC favor · knavesA · forever · slavesA · itB · spreadC · spiritB · deadC
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 |
|---|---|---|
| WHAT though around thee blazes | 7 | ·····/˘ |
| No fiery rallying sign? | 8 | ·/˘˘/˘˘· |
| From all thy own high places, | 7 | ·····/˘ |
| Give heaven the light of thine! | 7 | ·/˘···· |
| What though unthrilled, unmoving, | 8 | ····˘··· |
| The statesman stand apart, | 6 | ·/˘·˘/ |
| And comes no warm approving | 7 | ····˘/˘ |
| From Mammon's crowded mart? | 6 | ···/˘· |
| Still, let the land be shaken | 7 | ·····/˘ |
| By a summons of thine own! | 7 | ··/˘··· |
| By all save truth forsaken, | 7 | ····˘/˘ |
| Stand fast with that alone! | 6 | ····˘/ |
| Shrink not from strife unequal! | 7 | ····˘/˘ |
| With the best is always hope; | 7 | ····/·· |
| And ever in the sequel | 7 | ·/˘··/˘ |
| God holds the right side up! | 6 | ······ |
| But when, with thine uniting, | 7 | ····˘/˘ |
| Come voices long and loud, | 6 | ·/˘··· |
| And far-off hills are writing | 7 | ·····/˘ |
| Thy fire-words on the cloud; | 7 | ·/˘···· |
| When from Penobscot's fountains | 7 | ··˘/˘/˘ |
| A deep response is heard, | 6 | ··˘/·· |
| And across the Western mountains | 8 | ·˘/·/˘/˘ |
| Rolls back thy rallying word; | 7 | ···/˘˘· |
| Shall thy line of battle falter, | 8 | ····/˘/˘ |
| With its allies just in view? | 7 | ··/˘··· |
| Oh, by hearth and holy altar, | 8 | ····/˘/˘ |
| My fatherland, be true! | 6 | ·/˘··· |
| Fling abroad thy scrolls of Freedom | 8 | ·˘/···/˘ |
| Speed them onward far and fast | 7 | ··/˘··· |
| Over hill and valley speed them, | 8 | ····/˘·· |
| Like the sibyl's on the blast! | 7 | ··/˘··· |
| Lo! the Empire State is shaking | 9 | ··/˘˘··/˘ |
| The shackles from her hand; | 6 | ·/˘··· |
| With the rugged North is waking | 8 | ··/˘··/˘ |
| The level sunset land! | 6 | ·/˘/·· |
| On they come, the free battalions | 8 | ·····˘/˘ |
| East and West and North they come, | 7 | ······· |
| And the heart-beat of the millions | 8 | ······/˘ |
| Is the beat of Freedom's drum. | 7 | ····/˘· |
| "To the tyrant's plot no favor | 8 | ··/˘··/˘ |
| No heed to place-fed knaves! | 6 | ······ |
| Bar and bolt the door forever | 8 | ·····˘/˘ |
| Against the land of slaves!" | 6 | ······ |
| Hear it, mother Earth, and hear it, | 8 | ··/˘···· |
| The heavens above us spread! | 7 | ·/˘···· |
| The land is roused,--its spirit | 8 | ····˘·/˘ |
| Was sleeping, but not dead! | 6 | ·/˘··· |
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