Pennsylvania Hall Poem Rhyme Scheme and Analysis
Rhyme Scheme: AABCDDEEFFGGHIJJKLMM NNOOPQRRSSTTUVWWXXYY FFRRZZA2A2B2B2C2C2AA D2D2E2E2WWYYF2TG2G2J JC2C2H2H2I2I2J2J2K2L 2DDM2M2B2B2F2TN2N2O2 P2Q2Q2R2R2S2FUVQQT2T 2J2U2V2V2CLRRW2W2X2Y 2Z2A3A2A2B3B3B3B3B2C 3V2NB2B2D3D3B3B3EEB3 B3V2V2H2E3B3B3F3F3G3 G3Z2A3JJB3B3NOT with the splendors of the days of old | A |
The spoil of nations and barbaric gold | A |
No weapons wrested from the fields of blood | B |
Where dark and stern the unyielding Roman stood | C |
And the proud eagles of his cohorts saw | D |
A world war wasted crouching to his law | D |
Nor blazoned car nor banners floating gay | E |
Like those which swept along the Appian Way | E |
When to the welcome of imperial Rome | F |
The victor warrior came in triumph home | F |
And trumpet peal and shoutings wild and high | G |
Stirred the blue quiet of the Italian sky | G |
But calm and grateful prayerful and sincere | H |
As Christian freemen only gathering here | I |
We dedicate our fair and lofty Hall | J |
Pillar and arch entablature and wall | J |
As Virtue's shrine as Liberty's abode | K |
Sacred to Freedom and to Freedom's God | L |
Far statelier Halls 'neath brighter skies than these | M |
Stood darkly mirrored in the gean seas | M |
Pillar and shrine and life like statues seen | N |
Graceful and pure the marble shafts between | N |
Where glorious Athens from her rocky hill | O |
Saw Art and Beauty subject to her will | O |
And the chaste temple and the classic grove | P |
The hall of sages and the bowers of love | Q |
Arch fane and column graced the shores and gave | R |
Their shadows to the blue Saronic wave | R |
And statelier rose on Tiber's winding side | S |
The Pantheon's dome the Coliseum's pride | S |
The Capitol whose arches backward flung | T |
The deep clear cadence of the Roman tongue | T |
Whence stern decrees like words of fate went forth | U |
To the awed nations of a conquered earth | V |
Where the proud Caesars in their glory came | W |
And Brutus lightened from his lips of flame | W |
Yet in tire porches of Athena's halls | X |
And in the shadow of her stately walls | X |
Lurked the sad bondman and his tears of woe | Y |
Wet the cold marble with unheeded flow | Y |
And fetters clanked beneath the silver dome | F |
Of the proud Pantheon of imperious Rome | F |
Oh not for him the chained and stricken slave | R |
By Tiber's shore or blue gina's wave | R |
In the thronged forum or the sages' seat | Z |
The bold lip pleaded and the warm heart beat | Z |
No soul of sorrow melted at his pain | A2 |
No tear of pity rusted on his chain | A2 |
But this fair Hall to Truth and Freedom given | B2 |
Pledged to the Right before all Earth and Heaven | B2 |
A free arena for the strife of mind | C2 |
To caste or sect or color unconfined | C2 |
Shall thrill with echoes such as ne'er of old | A |
From Roman hall or Grecian temple rolled | A |
Thoughts shall find utterance such as never yet | D2 |
The Propylea or the Forum met | D2 |
Beneath its roof no gladiator's strife | E2 |
Shall win applauses with the waste of life | E2 |
No lordly lictor urge the barbarous game | W |
No wanton Lais glory in her shame | W |
But here the tear of sympathy shall flow | Y |
As the ear listens to the tale of woe | Y |
Here in stern judgment of the oppressor's wrong | F2 |
Shall strong rebukings thrill on Freedom's tongue | T |
No partial justice hold th' unequal scale | G2 |
No pride of caste a brother's rights assail | G2 |
No tyrant's mandates echo from this wall | J |
Holy to Freedom and the Rights of All | J |
But a fair field where mind may close with mind | C2 |
Free as the sunshine and the chainless wind | C2 |
Where the high trust is fixed on Truth alone | H2 |
And bonds and fetters from the soul are thrown | H2 |
Where wealth and rank and worldly pomp and might | I2 |
Yield to the presence of the True and Right | I2 |
And fitting is it that this Hall should stand | J2 |
Where Pennsylvania's Founder led his band | J2 |
From thy blue waters Delaware to press | K2 |
The virgin verdure of the wilderness | L2 |
Here where all Europe with amazement saw | D |
The soul's high freedom trammelled by no law | D |
Here where the fierce and warlike forest men | M2 |
Gathered in peace around the home of Penn | M2 |
Awed by the weapons Love alone had given | B2 |
Drawn from the holy armory of Heaven | B2 |
Where Nature's voice against the bondman's wrong | F2 |
First found an earnest and indignant tongue | T |
Where Lay's bold message to the proud was borne | N2 |
And Keith's rebuke and Franklin's manly scorn | N2 |
Fitting it is that here where Freedom first | O2 |
From her fair feet shook off the Old World's dust | P2 |
Spread her white pinions to our Western blast | Q2 |
And her free tresses to our sunshine cast | Q2 |
One Hall should rise redeemed from Slavery's ban | R2 |
One Temple sacred to the Rights of Man | R2 |
Oh if the spirits of the parted come | S2 |
Visiting angels to their olden home | F |
If the dead fathers of the land look forth | U |
From their fair dwellings to the things of earth | V |
Is it a dream that with their eyes of love | Q |
They gaze now on us from the bowers above | Q |
Lay's ardent soul and Benezet the mild | T2 |
Steadfast in faith yet gentle as a child | T2 |
Meek hearted Woolman and that brother band | J2 |
The sorrowing exiles from their 'Father land ' | U2 |
Leaving their homes in Krieshiem's bowers of vine | V2 |
And the blue beauty of their glorious Rhine | V2 |
To seek amidst our solemn depths of wood | C |
Freedom from man and holy peace with God | L |
Who first of all their testimonial gave | R |
Against the oppressor for the outcast slave | R |
Is it a dream that such as these look down | W2 |
And with their blessing our rejoicings crown | W2 |
Let us rejoice that while the pulpit's door | X2 |
Is barred against the pleaders for the poor | Y2 |
While the Church wrangling upon points of faith | Z2 |
Forgets her bondsmen suffering unto death | A3 |
While crafty Traffic and the lust of Gain | A2 |
Unite to forge Oppression's triple chain | A2 |
One door is open and one Temple free | B3 |
As a resting place for hunted Liberty | B3 |
Where men may speak unshackled and unawed | B3 |
High words of Truth for Freedom and for God | B3 |
And when that truth its perfect work hath done | B2 |
And rich with blessings o'er our land hath gone | C3 |
When not a slave beneath his yoke shall pine | V2 |
From broad Potomac to the far Sabine | N |
When unto angel lips at last is given | B2 |
The silver trump of Jubilee in Heaven | B2 |
And from Virginia's plains Kentucky's shades | D3 |
And through the dim Floridian everglades | D3 |
Rises to meet that angel trumpet's sound | B3 |
The voice of millions from their chains unbound | B3 |
Then though this Hall be crumbling in decay | E |
Its strong walls blending with the common clay | E |
Yet round the ruins of its strength shall stand | B3 |
The best and noblest of a ransomed land | B3 |
Pilgrims like these who throng around the shrine | V2 |
Of Mecca or of holy Palestine | V2 |
A prouder glory shall that ruin own | H2 |
Than that which lingers round the Parthenon | E3 |
Here shall the child of after years be taught | B3 |
The works of Freedom which his fathers wrought | B3 |
Told of the trials of the present hour | F3 |
Our weary strife with prejudice and power | F3 |
How the high errand quickened woman's soul | G3 |
And touched her lip as with a living coal | G3 |
How Freedom's martyms kept their lofty faith | Z2 |
True and unwavering unto bonds and death | A3 |
The pencil's art shall sketch the ruined Hall | J |
The Muses' garland crown its aged wall | J |
And History's pen for after times record | B3 |
Its consecration unto Freedom's God | B3 |
John Greenleaf Whittier
(1)
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