Rantoul Poem Rhyme Scheme and Analysis

Rhyme Scheme: ABAC DEDE FAFA GHGH IJIJ KLKL MNON PQPQ RSSS STSS USUS VWVW XYXY SZSZ A2SA2S B2C2B2B2 SD2SD2 B2E2B2E2 AF2AF2 JG2JG2 D2AD2H2 SSS

One day along the electric wireA
His manly word for Freedom spedB
We came next morn that tongue of fireA
Said only 'He who spake is dead 'C
-
Dead while his voice was living yetD
In echoes round the pillared domeE
Dead while his blotted page lay wetD
With themes of state and loves of homeE
-
Dead in that crowning grace of timeF
That triumph of life's zenith hourA
Dead while we watched his manhood's primeF
Break from the slow bud into flowerA
-
Dead he so great and strong and wiseG
While the mean thousands yet drew breathH
How deepened through that dread surpriseG
The mystery and the awe of deathH
-
From the high place whereon our votesI
Had borne him clear calm earnest fellJ
His first words like the prelude notesI
Of some great anthem yet to swellJ
-
We seemed to see our flag unfurledK
Our champion waiting in his placeL
For the last battle of the worldK
The Armageddon of the raceL
-
Through him we hoped to speak the wordM
Which wins the freedom of a landN
And lift for human right the swordO
Which dropped from Hampden's dying handN
-
For he had sat at Sidney's feetP
And walked with Pym and Vane apartQ
And through the centuries felt the beatP
Of Freedom's march in Cromwell's heartQ
-
He knew the paths the worthies heldR
Where England's best and wisest trodS
And lingering drank the springs that welledS
Beneath the touch of Milton's rodS
-
No wild enthusiast of the rightS
Self poised and clear he showed alwayT
The coolness of his northern nightS
The ripe repose of autumn's dayS
-
His steps were slow yet forward stillU
He pressed where others paused or failedS
The calm star clomb with constant willU
The restless meteor flashed and paledS
-
Skilled in its subtlest wile he knewV
And owned the higher ends of LawW
Still rose majestic on his viewV
The awful Shape the schoolman sawW
-
Her home the heart of God her voiceX
The choral harmonies wherebyY
The stars through all their spheres rejoiceX
The rhythmic rule of earth and skyY
-
We saw his great powers misappliedS
To poor ambitions yet through allZ
We saw him take the weaker sideS
And right the wronged and free the thrallZ
-
Now looking o'er the frozen NorthA2
For one like him in word and actS
To call her old free spirit forthA2
And give her faith the life of factS
-
To break her party bonds of shameB2
And labor with the zeal of himC2
To make the Democratic nameB2
Of Liberty the synonymeB2
-
We sweep the land from hill to strandS
We seek the strong the wise the braveD2
And sad of heart return to standS
In silence by a new made graveD2
-
There where his breezy hills of homeB2
Look out upon his sail white seasE2
The sounds of winds and waters comeB2
And shape themselves to words like theseE2
-
'Why murmuring mourn that he whose powerA
Was lent to Party over longF2
Heard the still whisper at the hourA
He set his foot on Party wrongF2
-
'The human life that closed so wellJ
No lapse of folly now can stainG2
The lips whence Freedom's protest fellJ
No meaner thought can now profaneG2
-
'Mightier than living voice his graveD2
That lofty protest utters o'erA
Through roaring wind and smiting waveD2
It speaks his hate of wrong once moreH2
-
'Men of the North your weak regretS
Is wasted here arise and payS
To freedom and to him your debtS
By following where he led the way '-

John Greenleaf Whittier



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