Expostulation Poem Rhyme Scheme and Analysis
Rhyme Scheme: ABACDEFE FGFGHIHI AJAJKFKF HLHLMFMF NONOPQPQ RSRSTLTL UOUOLFLF VUVUWXWY ZFA2FB2XC2 FD2FD2LHLH FE2FE2FVFV F2G2D2G2HH2HN I2BI2 J2FK2F VFVFHKHK| OUR fellow countrymen in chains | A |
| Slaves in a land of light and law | B |
| Slaves crouching on the very plains | A |
| Where rolled the storm of Freedom's war | C |
| A groan from Eutaw's haunted wood | D |
| A wail where Camden's martyrs fell | E |
| By every shrine of patriot blood | F |
| From Moultrie's wall and Jasper's well | E |
| - | |
| By storied hill and hallowed grot | F |
| By mossy wood and marshy glen | G |
| Whence rang of old the rifle shot | F |
| And hurrying shout of Marion's men | G |
| The groan of breaking hearts is there | H |
| The falling lash the fetter's clank | I |
| Slaves slaves are breathing in that air | H |
| Which old De Kalb and Sumter drank | I |
| - | |
| What ho our countrymen in chains | A |
| The whip on woman's shrinking flesh | J |
| Our soil yet reddening with the stains | A |
| Caught from her scourging warm and fresh | J |
| What mothers from their children riven | K |
| What God's own image bought and sold | F |
| Americans to market driven | K |
| And bartered as the brute for gold | F |
| - | |
| Speak shall their agony of prayer | H |
| Come thrilling to our hearts in vain | L |
| To us whose fathers scorned to bear | H |
| The paltry menace of a chain | L |
| To us whose boast is loud and long | M |
| Of holy Liberty and Light | F |
| Say shall these writhing slaves of Wrong | M |
| Plead vainly for their plundered Right | F |
| - | |
| What shall we send with lavish breath | N |
| Our sympathies across the wave | O |
| Where Manhood on the field of death | N |
| Strikes for his freedom or a grave | O |
| Shall prayers go up and hymns be sung | P |
| For Greece the Moslem fetter spurning | Q |
| And millions hail with pen and tongue | P |
| Our light on all her altars burning | Q |
| - | |
| Shall Belgium feel and gallant France | R |
| By Vendome's pile and Schoenbrun's wall | S |
| And Poland gasping on her lance | R |
| The impulse of our cheering call | S |
| And shall the slave beneath our eye | T |
| Clank o'er our fields his hateful chain | L |
| And toss his fettered arms on high | T |
| And groan for Freedom's gift in vain | L |
| - | |
| Oh say shall Prussia's banner be | U |
| A refuge for the stricken slave | O |
| And shall the Russian serf go free | U |
| By Baikal's lake and Neva's wave | O |
| And shall the wintry bosomed Dane | L |
| Relax the iron hand of pride | F |
| And bid his bondmen cast the chain | L |
| From fettered soul and limb aside | F |
| - | |
| Shall every flap of England's flag | V |
| Proclaim that all around are free | U |
| From farthest Ind to each blue crag | V |
| That beetles o'er the Western Sea | U |
| And shall we scoff at Europe's kings | W |
| When Freedom's fire is dim with us | X |
| And round our country's altar clings | W |
| The damning shade of Slavery's curse | Y |
| - | |
| Go let us ask of Constantine | Z |
| To loose his grasp on Poland's throat | F |
| And beg the lord of Mahmoud's line | A2 |
| To spare the struggling Suliote | F |
| Will not the scorching answer come | B2 |
| From turbaned Turk and scornful Russ | X |
| 'Go loose your fettered slaves at home | C2 |
| Then turn and ask the like of us ' | - |
| - | |
| Just God and shall we calmly rest | F |
| The Christian's scorn the heathen's mirth | D2 |
| Content to live the lingering jest | F |
| And by word of a mocking Earth | D2 |
| Shall our own glorious land retain | L |
| That curse which Europe scorns to bear | H |
| Shall our own brethren drag the chain | L |
| Which not even Russia's menials wear | H |
| - | |
| Up then in Freedom's manly part | F |
| From graybeard eld to fiery youth | E2 |
| And on the nation's naked heart | F |
| Scatter the living coals of Truth | E2 |
| Up while ye slumber deeper yet | F |
| The shadow of our fame is growing | V |
| Up while ye pause our sun may set | F |
| In blood around our altars flowing | V |
| - | |
| Oh rouse ye ere the storm comes forth | F2 |
| The gathered wrath of God and man | G2 |
| Like that which wasted Egypt's earth | D2 |
| When hail and fire above it ran | G2 |
| Hear ye no warnings in the air | H |
| Feel ye no earthquake underneath | H2 |
| Up up why will ye slumber where | H |
| The sleeper only wakes in death | N |
| - | |
| Rise now for Freedom not in strife | I2 |
| Like that your sterner fathers saw | B |
| The awful waste of human life | I2 |
| The glory and the guilt of war ' | - |
| But break the chain the yoke remove | J2 |
| And smite to earth Oppression's rod | F |
| With those mild arms of Truth and Love | K2 |
| Made mighty through the living God | F |
| - | |
| Down let the shrine of Moloch sink | V |
| And leave no traces where it stood | F |
| Nor longer let its idol drink | V |
| His daily cup of human blood | F |
| But rear another altar there | H |
| To Truth and Love and Mercy given | K |
| And Freedom's gift and Freedom's prayer | H |
| Shall call an answer down from Heaven | K |
John Greenleaf Whittier
(1)
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