Analysis of Astræa at the Capitol
John Greenleaf Whittier 1807 (Haverhill) – 1892 (Hampton Falls)
WHEN first I saw our banner wave
Above the nation's council-hall,
I heard beneath its marble wall
The clanking fetters of the slave!
In the foul market-place I stood,
And saw the Christian mother sold,
And childhood with its locks of gold,
Blue-eyed and fair with Saxon blood.
I shut my eyes, I held my breath,
And, smothering down the wrath and shame
That set my Northern blood aflame,
Stood silent,--where to speak was death.
Beside me gloomed the prison-cell
Where wasted one in slow decline
For uttering simple words of mine,
And loving freedom all too well.
The flag that floated from the dome
Flapped menace in the morning air;
I stood a perilled stranger where
The human broker made his home.
For crime was virtue: Gown and Sword
And Law their threefold sanction gave,
And to the quarry of the slave
Went hawking with our symbol-bird.
On the oppressor's side was power;
And yet I knew that every wrong,
However old, however strong,
But waited God's avenging hour.
I knew that truth would crush the lie,
Somehow, some time, the end would be;
Yet scarcely dared I hope to see
The triumph with my mortal eye.
But now I see it! In the sun
A free flag floats from yonder dome,
And at the nation's hearth and home
The justice long delayed is done.
Not as we hoped, in calm of prayer,
The message of deliverance comes,
But heralded by roll of drums
On waves of battle-troubled air!
Midst sounds that madden and appall,
The song that Bethlehem's shepherds knew!
The harp of David melting through
The demon-agonies of Saul!
Not as we hoped; but what are we?
Above our broken dreams and plans
God lays, with wiser hand than man's,
The corner-stones of liberty.
I cavil not with Him: the voice
That freedom's blessed gospel tells
Is sweet to me as silver bells,
Rejoicing! yea, I will rejoice!
Dear friends still toiling in the sun;
Ye dearer ones who, gone before,
Are watching from the eternal shore
The slow work by your hands begun,
Rejoice with me! The chastening rod
Blossoms with love; the furnace heat
Grows cool beneath His blessed feet
Whose form is as the Son of God!
Rejoice! Our Marah's bitter springs
Are sweetened; on our ground of grief
Rise day by day in strong relief
The prophecies of better things.
Rejoice in hope! The day and night
Are one with God, and one with them
Who see by faith the cloudy hem
Of Judgement fringed with Mercy's light
Scheme | ABBA XCCX DEED FGGF HIIH XAAX JKKJ LMML NHHN IOOI BPPB MQQM RSSR NTTN UVVU WXXW YZZY |
---|---|
Poetic Form | Quatrain (88%) |
Metre | 111110101 01010101 11011101 01010101 00110111 01010101 0111111 11011101 11111111 010010101 11110101 11011111 01110101 11010101 110010111 01010111 01110101 11000101 1101101 01010111 11110101 0111101 01010101 110110101 1011110 011111001 101101 110101010 11111101 1110111 11011111 01011101 11111001 01111101 01010101 01010111 11110111 010101001 11001111 11110101 11110001 01110101 01110101 01010011 11111111 011010101 11110111 01011100 1111101 1101101 11111101 01011101 11110001 11011101 110100101 01111101 0111011 10110101 1101111 11110111 01101101 110110111 11110101 01001101 01010101 11110111 11110101 1101111 |
Closest metre | Iambic tetrameter |
Characters | 2,298 |
Words | 428 |
Sentences | 23 |
Stanzas | 17 |
Stanza Lengths | 4, 4, 4, 4, 4, 4, 4, 4, 4, 4, 4, 4, 4, 4, 4, 4, 4 |
Lines Amount | 68 |
Letters per line (avg) | 27 |
Words per line (avg) | 6 |
Letters per stanza (avg) | 109 |
Words per stanza (avg) | 25 |
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Submitted on May 13, 2011
Modified on March 05, 2023
- 2:11 min read
- 132 Views
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"Astræa at the Capitol" Poetry.com. STANDS4 LLC, 2024. Web. 9 Jun 2024. <https://www.poetry.com/poem-analysis/22849/astr%C3%A6a-at-the-capitol>.
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