A Letter Poem Rhyme Scheme and Analysis

Rhyme Scheme: ABCBDEFGHBHBIBIBJBKB LBMNOLPLQRQGSTSTPBPB UVUBWXWGQNQNQYGGZBZB A2BA2BB2C2B2B2QRQRQN QBB2B2B2B2NB2D2B2E2B E2BYB2YB2QNQNF2B2F2B 2G2XG2XB2BB2BNRNRQRQ RKQKQH2HRNI2BI2BJ2B2 J2B2K2RK2G

'TIS over Moses All is lostA
I hear the bells a ringingB
Of Pharaoh and his Red Sea hostC
I hear the Free Wills singingB
We're routed Moses horse and footD
If there be truth in figuresE
With Federal Whigs in hot pursuitF
And Hale and all the 'niggers 'G
Alack alas this month or moreH
We've felt a sad forebodingB
Our very dreams the burden boreH
Of central cliques explodingB
Before our eyes a furnace shoneI
Where heads of dough were roastingB
And one we took to be your ownI
The traitor Hale was toastingB
Our Belknap brother heard with aweJ
The Congo minstrels playingB
At Pittsfield Reuben Leavitt sawK
The ghost of Storrs a prayingB
And Carroll's woods were sad to seeL
With black winged crows a dartingB
And Black Snout looked on OssipeeM
New glossed with Day and MartinN
We thought the 'Old Man of the Notch'O
His face seemed changing whollyL
His lips seemed thick his nose seemed flatP
His misty hair looked woollyL
And Co s teamsters shrieking fledQ
From the metamorphosed figureR
'Look there ' they said 'the Old Stone HeadQ
Himself is turning nigger 'G
The schoolhouse out of Canaan hauledS
Seemed turning on its track againT
And like a great swamp turtle crawledS
To Canaan village back againT
Shook off the mud and settled flatP
Upon its underpinningB
A nigger on its ridge pole satP
From ear to ear a grinningB
Gray H d heard o' nights the soundU
Of rail cars onward faringV
Right over Democratic groundU
The iron horse came tearingB
A flag waved o'er that spectral trainW
As high as Pittsfield steepleX
Its emblem was a broken chainW
Its motto 'To the people 'G
I dreamed that Charley took his bedQ
With Hale for his physicianN
His daily dose an old 'unreadQ
And unreferred' petitionN
There Hayes and Tuck as nurses satQ
As near as near could be manY
They leeched him with the 'Democrat 'G
They blistered with the 'Freeman 'G
Ah grisly portents What availZ
Your terrors of forewarningB
We wake to find the nightmare HaleZ
Astride our breasts at morningB
From Portsmouth lights to Indian streamA2
Our foes their throats are tryingB
The very factory spindles seemA2
To mock us while they're flyingB
The hills have bonfires in our streetsB2
Flags flout us in our facesC2
The newsboys peddling off their sheetsB2
Are hoarse with our disgracesB2
In vain we turn for gibing witQ
And shoutings follow afterR
As if old Kearsarge had splitQ
His granite sides with laughterR
What boots it that we pelted outQ
The anti slavery womenN
And bravely strewed their hall aboutQ
With tattered lace and trimmingB
Was it for such a sad reverseB2
Our mobs became peacemakersB2
And kept their tar and wooden horseB2
For Englishmen and QuakersB2
For this did shifty AthertonN
Make gag rules for the Great HouseB2
Wiped we for this our feet uponD2
Petitions in our State HouseB2
Plied we for this our axe of doomE2
No stubborn traitor sparingB
Who scoffed at our opinion loomE2
And took to homespun wearingB
Ah Moses hard it is to scanY
These crooked providencesB2
Deducing from the wisest planY
The saddest consequencesB2
Strange that in trampling as was meetQ
The nigger men's petitionN
We sprung a mine beneath our feetQ
Which opened up perditionN
How goodly Moses was the gameF2
In which we've long been actorsB2
Supplying freedom with the nameF2
And slavery with the practiceB2
Our smooth words fed the people's mouthG2
Their ears our party rattleX
We kept them headed to the SouthG2
As drovers do their cattleX
But now our game of politicsB2
The world at large is learningB
And men grown gray in all our tricksB2
State's evidence are turningB
Votes and preambles subtly spunN
They cram with meanings louderR
And load the Democratic gunN
With abolition powderR
The ides of June Woe worth the dayQ
When turning all things overR
The traitor Hale shall make his hayQ
From Democratic cloverR
Who then shall take him in the lawK
Who punish crime so flagrantQ
Whose hand shall serve whose pen shall drawK
A writ against that 'vagrant'Q
Alas no hope is left us hereH2
And one can only pine forH
The envied place of overseerR
Of slaves in CarolinaN
Pray Moses give Calhoun the winkI2
And see what pay he's givingB
We're practised long enough we thinkI2
To know the art of drivingB
And for the faithful rank and fileJ2
Who know their proper stationsB2
Perhaps it may be worth their whileJ2
To try the rice plantationsB2
Let Hale exult let Wilson scoffK2
To see us southward scamperR
The slaves we know are 'better offK2
Than laborers in New Hampshire 'G

John Greenleaf Whittier



Rate:
(1)



Poem topics: , Print This Poem , Rhyme Scheme

Submit Spanish Translation
Submit German Translation
Submit French Translation


Write your comment about A Letter poem by John Greenleaf Whittier


 

Recent Interactions*

This poem was read 1 times,

This poem was added to the favorite list by 0 members,

This poem was voted by 0 members.

(* Interactions only in the last 7 days)

New Poems

Popular Poets