To the Reformers of England
GOD bless ye, brothers! in the fightYe 're waging now, ye cannot fail,For better is your sense of rightThan king-craft's triple mail.
Than tyrant's law, or bigot's ban,More mighty is your simplest word;The free heart of an honest manThan crosier or the sword.
Go, let your blinded Church rehearseThe lesson it has learned so well;It moves not with its prayer or curseThe gates of heaven or hell.
Let the State scaffold rise again;Did Freedom die when Russell died?Forget ye how the blood of VaneFrom earth's green bosom cried?
The great hearts of your olden timeAre beating with you, full and strong;All holy memories and sublimeAnd glorious round ye throng.
The bluff, bold men of RunnymedeAre with ye still in times like these;The shades of England's mighty dead,Your cloud of witnesses!
The truths ye urge are borne abroadBy every wind and every tide;The voice of Nature and of GodSpeaks out upon your side.
The weapons which your hands have foundAre those which Heaven itself has wrought,Light, Truth, and Love; your battle-groundThe free, broad field of Thought.
No partial, selfish purpose breaksThe simple beauty of your plan,Nor lie from throne or altar shakesYour steady faith in man.
The languid pulse of England startsAnd bounds beneath your words of power,The beating of her million heartsIs with you at this hour!
O ye who, with undoubting eyes,Through present cloud and gathering storm,Behold the span of Freedom's skies,And sunshine soft and warm;
Press bravely onward! not in vainYour generous trust in human-kind;The good which bloodshed could not gainYour peaceful zeal shall find.
Press on! the triumph shall be wonOf common rights and equal laws,The glorious dream of Harrington,And Sidney's good old cause.
Blessing the cotter and the crown,Sweetening worn Labor's bitter cup;And, plucking not the highest down,Lifting the lowest up.
Press on! and we who may not shareThe toil or glory of your fightMay ask, at least, in earnest prayer,God's blessing on the right!
Words in this poem
- 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]
- olden a.
- Old; ancient; as, the olden time.
- glorious a.
- Exhibiting attributes, qualities, or acts that are worthy of or receive glory; noble; praiseworthy; excellent; splendid; illustrious; inspiring admiration; as, glorious deeds. [OF. glorios, glorious, F. glorieux, fr. L. gloriosus. See Glory, n.]
- bluff a.
- Having a broad, flattened front; as, the bluff bows of a ship. [Cf. OD. blaf flat, broad, blaffaert one with a broad face, also, a boaster; or G. verblüffen to confuse, LG. bluffen to frighten; to unknown origin.]
- 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.
- bravely adv.
- In a brave manner; courageously; gallantly; valiantly; splendidly; nobly.
- 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.]
- 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,]
- cotter n.
- A cottager; a cottier. Burns. [LL. cotarius, cottarius, coterius. See Cot.]
- sweetening n.
- The act of making sweet.
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
To the Reformers of England 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 the Reformers of England, 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-the-reformers-of-england.html, id L24938.
Form and metre
To the Reformers of England is 60 lines in 15 stanzas of 4 lines each. The rhyme scheme is ABAB, complete in 12 of its 15 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 fightA · failB · rightA · mailB
- 2 A-A- banA · word · manA · sword
- 3 ABAB rehearseA · wellB · curseA · hellB
- 4 ABAB againA · diedB · vaneA · criedB
- 5 ABAB timeA · strongB · sublimeA · throngB
- 6 -A-A runnymede · theseA · dead · witnessesA
- 7 -A-A abroad · tideA · god · sideA
- 8 ABAB foundA · wroughtB · groundA · thoughtB
- 9 ABAB breaksA · planB · shakesA · manB
- 10 ABAB startsA · powerB · heartsA · hourB
- 11 ABAB eyesA · stormB · skiesA · warmB
- 12 ABAB vainA · kindB · gainA · findB
- 13 ABAB wonA · lawsB · harringtonA · causeB
- 14 ABAB crownA · cupB · downA · upB
- 15 ABAB shareA · fightB · prayerA · rightB
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 |
|---|---|---|
| GOD bless ye, brothers! in the fight | 8 | ···/˘··· |
| Ye 're waging now, ye cannot fail, | 9 | ··/˘··/˘· |
| For better is your sense of right | 8 | ·/˘····· |
| Than king-craft's triple mail. | 6 | ···/˘· |
| Than tyrant's law, or bigot's ban, | 8 | ·/˘··/˘· |
| More mighty is your simplest word; | 8 | ·/˘··/˘· |
| The free heart of an honest man | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| Than crosier or the sword. | 6 | ·/˘··· |
| Go, let your blinded Church rehearse | 8 | ···/˘·˘/ |
| The lesson it has learned so well; | 8 | ·/˘····· |
| It moves not with its prayer or curse | 8 | ········ |
| The gates of heaven or hell. | 7 | ···/˘·· |
| Let the State scaffold rise again; | 8 | ···/˘·˘/ |
| Did Freedom die when Russell died? | 8 | ·/˘··/˘· |
| Forget ye how the blood of Vane | 8 | ˘/······ |
| From earth's green bosom cried? | 6 | ···/˘· |
| The great hearts of your olden time | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| Are beating with you, full and strong; | 8 | ·/˘····· |
| All holy memories and sublime | 8 | ·/˘/˘·˘/ |
| And glorious round ye throng. | 7 | ·/˘˘··· |
| The bluff, bold men of Runnymede | 8 | ········ |
| Are with ye still in times like these; | 8 | ········ |
| The shades of England's mighty dead, | 8 | ···/˘/˘· |
| Your cloud of witnesses! | 6 | ···/˘˘ |
| The truths ye urge are borne abroad | 8 | ······˘/ |
| By every wind and every tide; | 8 | ·/˘··/˘· |
| The voice of Nature and of God | 8 | ···/˘··· |
| Speaks out upon your side. | 6 | ······ |
| The weapons which your hands have found | 8 | ·/˘····· |
| Are those which Heaven itself has wrought, | 8 | ···/˘/·· |
| Light, Truth, and Love; your battle-ground | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| The free, broad field of Thought. | 6 | ······ |
| No partial, selfish purpose breaks | 8 | ·/˘/˘/˘· |
| The simple beauty of your plan, | 8 | ·/˘/˘··· |
| Nor lie from throne or altar shakes | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| Your steady faith in man. | 6 | ·/˘··· |
| The languid pulse of England starts | 8 | ·/˘··/˘· |
| And bounds beneath your words of power, | 9 | ·······/˘ |
| The beating of her million hearts | 8 | ·/˘··/˘· |
| Is with you at this hour! | 7 | ·····/˘ |
| O ye who, with undoubting eyes, | 8 | ········ |
| Through present cloud and gathering storm, | 8 | ·/˘··/˘· |
| Behold the span of Freedom's skies, | 8 | ˘/···/˘· |
| And sunshine soft and warm; | 6 | ·/···· |
| Press bravely onward! not in vain | 8 | ·/˘/˘··· |
| Your generous trust in human-kind; | 8 | ·/˘··/˘· |
| The good which bloodshed could not gain | 8 | ···/···· |
| Your peaceful zeal shall find. | 6 | ·/˘··· |
| Press on! the triumph shall be won | 8 | ···/˘··· |
| Of common rights and equal laws, | 8 | ·/˘··/˘· |
| The glorious dream of Harrington, | 9 | ·/˘˘··/˘˘ |
| And Sidney's good old cause. | 6 | ·/˘··· |
| Blessing the cotter and the crown, | 8 | /˘·/˘··· |
| Sweetening worn Labor's bitter cup; | 8 | /˘·/˘/˘· |
| And, plucking not the highest down, | 8 | ·/˘··/˘· |
| Lifting the lowest up. | 6 | /˘·/˘· |
| Press on! and we who may not share | 8 | ········ |
| The toil or glory of your fight | 8 | ···/˘··· |
| May ask, at least, in earnest prayer, | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| God's blessing on the right! | 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.