Song Of America Poem Rhyme Scheme and Analysis

Rhyme Scheme: ABABCDEDFGHGIJKJFLMN HOPOQRMRASTSUVTVWXFX WYPYZSA2STIZIHB2QB2H C2TC2AVTVTTD2TTIE2IT F2TF2MG2A2G2TTTTTH2I 2H2J2ITIK2L2M2L2TN2O 2N2A2ZTZTP2HP2I2Q2FQ 2IVTVE2R2TR2S2GS2GA2 T2CT2TOTOTSHSA2ITIZG ZG

And now when poets are singingA
Their songs of olden daysB
And now when the land is ringingA
With sweet Centennial laysB
My muse goes wandering backwardC
To the groundwork of all theseD
To the time when our Pilgrim FathersE
Came over the winter seasD
The sons of a mighty kingdomF
Of a cultured folk were theyG
Born amidst pomp and splendorH
Bred in it day by dayG
Children of bloom and beautyI
Reared under skies sereneJ
Where the daisy and hawthorne blossomedK
And the ivy was always greenJ
And yet for the sake of freedomF
For a free religious faithL
They turned from home and peopleM
And stood face to face with deathN
They turned from a tyrant rulerH
And stood on the new world's shoreO
With a waste of waters behind themP
And a waste of land beforeO
O men of a great RepublicQ
Of a land of untold worthR
Of a nation that has no equalM
Upon God's round green earthR
I hear you sighing and cryingA
Of the hard close times at handS
What think you of those old heroesT
On the rock 'twixt sea and landS
The bells of a million churchesU
Go ringing out to nightV
And the glitter of palace windowsT
Fills all the land with lightV
And there is the home and collegeW
And here is the feast and ballX
And the angels of peace and freedomF
Are hovering over allX
They had no church no collegeW
No banks no mining stockY
They had but the waste before themP
The sea and Plymouth RockY
But there in the night and tempestZ
With gloom on every handS
They laid the first foundationA2
Of a nation great and grandS
There were no weak repiningsT
No shrinking from what might beI
But with their brows to the tempestZ
And with their backs to the seaI
They planned out a noble futureH
And planted the corner stoneB2
Of the grandest greatest republicQ
The world has ever knownB2
O women in homes of splendorH
O lily buds frail and fairC2
With fortunes upon your fingersT
And milk white pearls in your hairC2
I hear you longing and sighingA
For some new fresh delightV
But what of those Pilgrim mothersT
On that December nightV
I hear you talking of hardshipsT
I hear you moaning of lossT
Each has her fancied sorrowD2
Each bears her self made crossT
But they they had only their husbandsT
The rain the rock and the seaI
Yet they looked up to God and blessed HimE2
And were glad because they were freeI
O grand old Pilgrim heroesT
O souls that were tried and trueF2
With all of our proud possessionsT
We are humbled at thought of youF2
Men of such might and muscleM
Women so brave and strongG2
Whose faith was fixed as the mountainA2
Through a night so dark and longG2
We know of your grim grave errorsT
As husbands and as wivesT
Of the rigid bleak ideasT
That starved your daily livesT
Of pent up curbed emotionsT
Of feelings crushed suppressedH2
That God with the heart createdI2
In every human breastH2
We know of that little remnantJ2
Of British tyrannyI
When you hunted Quakers and witchesT
And swumg them from a treeI
Yet back to a holy motiveK2
To live in the fear of GodL2
To a purpose high exaltedM2
To walk where martyrs trodL2
We can trace your gravest errorsT
Your aim was fixed and sureN2
And e'en if your acts were fanaticO2
We know your hearts were pureN2
You lived so near to heavenA2
You over reached your trustZ
And deemed yourselves creatorsT
Forgetting you were but dustZ
But we with our broader visionsT
With our wider realm of thoughtP2
I often think would be betterH
If we lived as our fathers taughtP2
Their lives seemed bleak and rigidI2
Narrow and void of bloomQ2
Our minds have too much freedomF
And conscience too much roomQ2
They over reached in dutyI
They starved their hearts for the rightV
We live too much in the sensesT
We bask too long in the lightV
They proved by their clinging to HimE2
The image of God in manR2
And we by our love of licenseT
Strengthen a Darwin's planR2
But bigotry reached its limitS2
And license must have its swayG
And both shall result in profitS2
To those of a latter dayG
With the fetters of slavery brokenA2
And freedom's flag unfurledT2
Our nation strides onward and upwardC
And stands the peer of the worldT2
Spires and domes and steeplesT
Glitter from shore to shoreO
The waters are white with commerceT
The earth is studded with oreO
Peace is sitting above usT
And Plenty with laden handS
Wedded to sturdy LaborH
Goes singing through the landS
Then let each child of the nationA2
Who glories in being freeI
Remember the Pilgrim FathersT
Who stood on the rock by the seaI
For there in the rain and tempestZ
Of a night long passed awayG
They sowed the seeds of a harvestZ
We gather in sheaves to dayG

Ella Wheeler Wilcox



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