To William H. Seward
STATESMAN, I thank thee! and, if yet dissentMingles, reluctant, with my large content,I cannot censure what was nobly meant.But, while constrained to hold even Union lessThan Liberty and Truth and Righteousness,I thank thee in the sweet and holy nameOf peace, for wise calm words that put to shamePassion and party. Courage may be shownNot in defiance of the wrong alone;He may be bravest who, unweaponed, bearsThe olive branch, and, strong in justice, sparesThe rash wrong-doer, giving widest scope,To Christian charity and generous hope.If, without damage to the sacred causeOf Freedom and the safeguard of its laws--If, without yielding that for which aloneWe prize the Union, thou canst save it nowFrom a baptism of blood, upon thy browA wreath whose flowers no earthly soil have known;Woven of the beatitudes, shall rest,And the peacemaker be forever blest!
Words in this poem
- thank n.
- A expression of gratitude; an acknowledgment expressive of a sense of favor or kindness received; obligation, claim, or desert, or gratitude; -- now generally used in the plural. [AS. Þanc, Þonc, thanks, favor, thought; akin to OS. thank favor, pleasure, thanks, D. & G. dank thanks, Icel. Þ\'94kk, Dan. tak, Sw. tack, Goth. Þagks thanks; -]
- nobly adv.
- Of noble extraction; as, nobly born or descended.
- righteousness n.
- The quality or state of being righteous; holiness; purity; uprightness; rectitude. [AS. rihtwisnes.]
- 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.]
- safeguard n.
- One who, or that which, defends or protects; defense; protection. [Safe = guard: cf. F. sauvegarde.]
- 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,]
- peacemaker n.
- One who makes peace by reconciling parties that are at variance. Matt. v. 9. --Peace"mak`ing, n.
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
To William H. Seward 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 William H. Seward, 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-william-h-seward.html, id L24906.
Form and metre
To William H. Seward is 21 lines in a single stanza. It is in rhyming couplets, 76% of the lines: heroic couplets. The metre is iambic pentameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 85%).
See other poems in heroic couplets, 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 AAABBCCDDEEFFGGDHHDII dissentA · contentA · meantA · lessB · righteousnessB · nameC · shameC · shownD · aloneD · bearsE · sparesE · scopeF · hopeF · causeG · lawsG · aloneD · nowH · browH · knownD · restI · blestI
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 |
|---|---|---|
| STATESMAN, I thank thee! and, if yet dissent | 10 | /˘······˘/ |
| Mingles, reluctant, with my large content, | 10 | /˘˘/˘···˘/ |
| I cannot censure what was nobly meant. | 10 | ·/˘/˘··/˘· |
| But, while constrained to hold even Union less | 10 | ··˘/··//˘· |
| Than Liberty and Truth and Righteousness, | 10 | ·/˘˘···/˘˘ |
| I thank thee in the sweet and holy name | 10 | ·······/˘· |
| Of peace, for wise calm words that put to shame | 10 | ·········· |
| Passion and party. Courage may be shown | 10 | /˘·/˘/˘··· |
| Not in defiance of the wrong alone; | 10 | ··˘/˘···˘/ |
| He may be bravest who, unweaponed, bears | 10 | ···/˘····· |
| The olive branch, and, strong in justice, spares | 10 | ·/˘····/˘· |
| The rash wrong-doer, giving widest scope, | 9 | ····/˘/˘· |
| To Christian charity and generous hope. | 10 | ·/˘/˘·/˘˘· |
| If, without damage to the sacred cause | 10 | ···/˘··/˘· |
| Of Freedom and the safeguard of its laws-- | 10 | ·/˘··/···· |
| If, without yielding that for which alone | 10 | ···/˘···˘/ |
| We prize the Union, thou canst save it now | 10 | ···/˘····· |
| From a baptism of blood, upon thy brow | 10 | ··/˘······ |
| A wreath whose flowers no earthly soil have known; | 10 | ···/·/˘··· |
| Woven of the beatitudes, shall rest, | 9 | /˘······· |
| And the peacemaker be forever blest! | 10 | ··/·˘·˘/˘· |
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.