To Pius IX
THE cannon's brazen lips are cold;No red shell blazes down the air;And street and tower, and temple old,Are silent as despair.
The Lombard stands no more at bay,Rome's fresh young life has bled in vain;The ravens scattered by the dayCome back with night again.
Now, while the fratricides of FranceAre treading on the neck of Rome,Hider at Gaeta, seize thy chance!Coward and cruel, come!
Creep now from Naples' bloody skirt;Thy mummer's part was acted well,While Rome, with steel and fire begirt,Before thy crusade fell!
Her death-groans answered to thy prayer;Thy chant, the drum and bugle-call;Thy lights, the burning villa's glare;Thy beads, the shell and ball!
Let Austria clear thy way, with handsFoul from Ancona's cruel sack,And Naples, with his dastard bandsOf murderers, lead thee back!
Rome's lips are dumb; the orphan's wail,The mother's shriek, thou mayst not hearAbove the faithless Frenchman's hail,The unsexed shaveling's cheer!
Go, bind on Rome her cast-off weight,The double curse of crook and crown,Though woman's scorn and manhood's hateFrom wall and roof flash down!
Nor heed those blood-stains on the wall,Not Tiber's flood can wash away,Where, in thy stately Quirinal,Thy mangled victims lay!
Let the world murmur; let its cryOf horror and disgust be heard;Truth stands alone; thy coward lieIs backed by lance and sword!
The cannon of St. Angelo,And chanting priest and clanging bell,And beat of drum and bugle blow,Shall greet thy coming well!
Let lips of iron and tongues of slavesFit welcome give thee; for her part,Rome, frowning o'er her new-made graves,Shall curse thee from her heart!
No wreaths of sad Campagna's flowersShall childhood in thy pathway fling;No garlands from their ravaged bowersShall Terni's maidens bring;
But, hateful as that tyrant old,The mocking witness of his crime,In thee shall loathing eyes beholdThe Nero of our time!
Stand where Rome's blood was freest shed,Mock Heaven with impious thanks, and callIts curses on the patriot dead,Its blessings on the Gaul!
Or sit upon thy throne of lies,A poor, mean idol, blood-besmeared,Whom even its worshippers despise,Unhonored, unrevered!
Yet, Scandal of the World! from theeOne needful truth mankind shall learnThat kings and priests to LibertyAnd God are false in turn.
Earth wearies of them; and the longMeek sufferance of the Heavens doth fail;Woe for weak tyrants, when the strongWake, struggle, and prevail!
Not vainly Roman hearts have bledTo feed the Crosier and the Crown,If, roused thereby, the world shall treadThe twin-born vampires down.
Words in this poem 17
- lombard a.
- Of or pertaining to Lombardy, or the inhabitants of Lombardy.
- hider n.
- One who hides or conceals.
- begirt v. t.
- To encompass; to begird.
- glare v. i.
- To shine with a bright, dazzling light. [OE. glaren, gloren; cf. AS. glær amber, LG. glaren to glow or burn like coals, D. gloren to glimmer; prob. akin to E. glass.]
- dastard n.
- One who meanly shrinks from danger; an arrant coward; a poltroon. [Prob. from Icel. dæstr exhausted. breathless, p. p. of dæsa to groan, lose one's breath; cf. dasask to become exhausted, and E. daze.]
- quirinal a.
- Of, pertaining to, or designating, the hill Collis Quirinalis, now Monte Quirinale (one of the seven hills of Rome), or a modern royal place situated upon it. Also used substantively.
- 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,]
- childhood n.
- The state of being a child; the time in which persons are children; the condition or time from infancy to puberty. [AS. cildhad; cild child + -had. See Child, and hood.]
- pathway n.
- A footpath; a beaten track; any path or course. Also used figuratively.
- hateful a.
- Manifesting hate or hatred; malignant; malevolent.
- nero n.
- A Roman emperor notorius for debauchery and barbarous cruelty; hence, any profligate and cruel ruler or merciless tyrant.
- idol n.
- An image or representation of anything. [OE. idole, F. idole, L. idolum, fr. Gr. Wit, and cf. Eidolon.]
- despise v. t.
- To look down upon with disfavor or contempt; to contemn; to scorn; to disdain; to have a low opinion or contemptuous dislike of. [OF. despis-, in some forms of despire to despise, fr. L. despicere, despectum, to look down upon, despise; de- + spicere, specere, to look. See Spy, and cf. Des]
- scandal n.
- Offense caused or experienced; reproach or reprobation called forth by what is regarded as wrong, criminal, heinous, or flagrant: opprobrium or disgrace. [F. scandale, fr. L. scandalum, Gr. scandle, OF. escandle. See Slander.]
- needful a.
- Full of need; in need or want; needy; distressing.
- sufferance n.
- The state of suffering; the bearing of pain; endurance. [OE. suffrance, OF. sufrance, soufrance, F. souffrance, L. sufferentia, from sufferens, -entis, p.pr. of sufferre. See Suffer.]
- crosier n.
- The pastoral staff of a bishop (also of an archbishop, being the symbol of his office as a shepherd of the flock of God. [OE. rocer, croser, croyser, fr. croce crosier, OF. croce, croche, F. crosse, fr. LL. crocea, crocia, from the same German or Celtic sourse as F. croc hook; akin]
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
To Pius IX 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 Pius IX, 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-pius-ix.html, id L24952.
Form and metre
To Pius IX is 76 lines in 19 stanzas of 4 lines each. The rhyme scheme is ABAB, complete in 16 of its 19 stanzas. The metre is iambic tetrameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 91%).
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 ABAB coldA · airB · oldA · despairB
- 2 ABAB bayA · vainB · dayA · againB
- 3 ABAB franceA · romeB · chanceA · comeB
- 4 ABAB skirtA · wellB · begirtA · fellB
- 5 ABAB prayerA · callB · glareA · ballB
- 6 ABAB handsA · sackB · bandsA · backB
- 7 ABAB wailA · hearB · hailA · cheerB
- 8 ABAB weightA · crownB · hateA · downB
- 9 -A-A wall · awayA · quirinal · layA
- 10 A-A- cryA · heard · lieA · sword
- 11 ABAB angeloA · bellB · blowA · wellB
- 12 ABAB slavesA · partB · gravesA · heartB
- 13 ABAB flowersA · flingB · bowersA · bringB
- 14 ABAB oldA · crimeB · beholdA · timeB
- 15 ABAB shedA · callB · deadA · gaulB
- 16 ABAB liesA · besmearedB · despiseA · unreveredB
- 17 -A-A thee · learnA · liberty · turnA
- 18 ABAB longA · failB · strongA · prevailB
- 19 ABAB bledA · crownB · treadA · downB
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 |
|---|---|---|
| THE cannon's brazen lips are cold; | 8 | ·/˘/˘··· |
| No red shell blazes down the air; | 8 | ···/˘··· |
| And street and tower, and temple old, | 8 | ···/·/˘· |
| Are silent as despair. | 6 | ·/˘·˘/ |
| The Lombard stands no more at bay, | 8 | ·/˘····· |
| Rome's fresh young life has bled in vain; | 8 | ········ |
| The ravens scattered by the day | 8 | ·/˘/˘··· |
| Come back with night again. | 6 | ····˘/ |
| Now, while the fratricides of France | 8 | ···/˘··· |
| Are treading on the neck of Rome, | 8 | ·/˘····· |
| Hider at Gaeta, seize thy chance! | 8 | /˘·/˘··· |
| Coward and cruel, come! | 6 | /˘·/˘· |
| Creep now from Naples' bloody skirt; | 8 | ···/˘/˘· |
| Thy mummer's part was acted well, | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| While Rome, with steel and fire begirt, | 8 | ·····/˘/ |
| Before thy crusade fell! | 6 | ···˘/· |
| Her death-groans answered to thy prayer; | 8 | ···/˘··· |
| Thy chant, the drum and bugle-call; | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| Thy lights, the burning villa's glare; | 8 | ···/˘/˘· |
| Thy beads, the shell and ball! | 6 | ······ |
| Let Austria clear thy way, with hands | 8 | ·/˘····· |
| Foul from Ancona's cruel sack, | 8 | ··˘/˘/˘· |
| And Naples, with his dastard bands | 8 | ·/˘··/˘· |
| Of murderers, lead thee back! | 7 | ·/˘˘··· |
| Rome's lips are dumb; the orphan's wail, | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| The mother's shriek, thou mayst not hear | 8 | ·/˘····· |
| Above the faithless Frenchman's hail, | 8 | ···/˘/˘· |
| The unsexed shaveling's cheer! | 8 | ···˘···· |
| Go, bind on Rome her cast-off weight, | 8 | ········ |
| The double curse of crook and crown, | 8 | ·/˘····· |
| Though woman's scorn and manhood's hate | 8 | ·/˘··/·· |
| From wall and roof flash down! | 6 | ······ |
| Nor heed those blood-stains on the wall, | 8 | ········ |
| Not Tiber's flood can wash away, | 8 | ·/˘···˘/ |
| Where, in thy stately Quirinal, | 8 | ···/˘/˘˘ |
| Thy mangled victims lay! | 7 | ·/˘˘/˘· |
| Let the world murmur; let its cry | 8 | ···/˘··· |
| Of horror and disgust be heard; | 8 | ·/˘·˘/·· |
| Truth stands alone; thy coward lie | 8 | ··˘/·/˘· |
| Is backed by lance and sword! | 7 | ··˘···· |
| The cannon of St. Angelo, | 8 | ·/˘··/˘· |
| And chanting priest and clanging bell, | 8 | ·/˘··/˘· |
| And beat of drum and bugle blow, | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| Shall greet thy coming well! | 6 | ···/˘· |
| Let lips of iron and tongues of slaves | 8 | ···/···· |
| Fit welcome give thee; for her part, | 8 | ·/˘····· |
| Rome, frowning o'er her new-made graves, | 8 | ·/˘····· |
| Shall curse thee from her heart! | 6 | ······ |
| No wreaths of sad Campagna's flowers | 9 | ·······/˘ |
| Shall childhood in thy pathway fling; | 8 | ·/···/·· |
| No garlands from their ravaged bowers | 9 | ·/˘··/˘/˘ |
| Shall Terni's maidens bring; | 6 | ···/˘· |
| But, hateful as that tyrant old, | 8 | ·/˘··/˘· |
| The mocking witness of his crime, | 8 | ·/˘/˘··· |
| In thee shall loathing eyes behold | 8 | ···/˘·˘/ |
| The Nero of our time! | 7 | ·/˘·/˘· |
| Stand where Rome's blood was freest shed, | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| Mock Heaven with impious thanks, and call | 9 | ·/·˘/˘··· |
| Its curses on the patriot dead, | 8 | ·/˘··/˘· |
| Its blessings on the Gaul! | 6 | ·/˘··· |
| Or sit upon thy throne of lies, | 8 | ········ |
| A poor, mean idol, blood-besmeared, | 8 | ···/˘··· |
| Whom even its worshippers despise, | 8 | ·/·/˘˘˘/ |
| Unhonored, unrevered! | 8 | ···˘···˘ |
| Yet, Scandal of the World! from thee | 8 | ·/˘····· |
| One needful truth mankind shall learn | 8 | ·/˘·//·· |
| That kings and priests to Liberty | 8 | ·····/˘˘ |
| And God are false in turn. | 6 | ······ |
| Earth wearies of them; and the long | 8 | ·/˘····· |
| Meek sufferance of the Heavens doth fail; | 10 | ·/˘˘··/˘·· |
| Woe for weak tyrants, when the strong | 8 | ···/˘··· |
| Wake, struggle, and prevail! | 6 | ·/˘·˘/ |
| Not vainly Roman hearts have bled | 8 | ·/˘/˘··· |
| To feed the Crosier and the Crown, | 8 | ···/˘··· |
| If, roused thereby, the world shall tread | 8 | ········ |
| The twin-born vampires down. | 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.