Stanzas For The Times Poem Rhyme Scheme and Analysis
Rhyme Scheme: ABCBDD EFEFGG HIHIJJ KIKILM NONOPP QRQRKS TUTUII VWXWYY ZLZLUU A2B2A2B2C2C2 DD2DD2E2E2 F2G2F2G2H2H2 I2ODOJ2J2 K2L2K2L2M2M2| Is this the land our fathers loved | A |
| The freedom which they toiled to win | B |
| Is this the soil whereon they moved | C |
| Are these the graves they slumber in | B |
| Are we the sons by whom are borne | D |
| The mantles which the dead have worn | D |
| - | |
| And shall we crouch above these graves | E |
| With craven soul and fettered lip | F |
| Yoke in with marked and branded slaves | E |
| And tremble at the driver's whip | F |
| Bend to the earth our pliant knees | G |
| And speak but as our masters please | G |
| - | |
| Shall outraged Nature cease to feel | H |
| Shall Mercy's tears no longer flow | I |
| Shall ruffian threats of cord and steel | H |
| The dungeon's gloom the assassin's blow | I |
| Turn back the spirit roused to save | J |
| The Truth our Country and the slave | J |
| - | |
| Of human skulls that shrine was made | K |
| Round which the priests of Mexico | I |
| Before their loathsome idol prayed | K |
| Is Freedom's altar fashioned so | I |
| And must we yield to Freedom's God | L |
| As offering meet the negro's blood | M |
| - | |
| Shall tongue be mute when deeds are wrought | N |
| Which well might shame extremest hell | O |
| Shall freemem lock the indignant thought | N |
| Shall Pity's bosom cease to swell | O |
| Shall Honor bleed shall Truth succumb | P |
| Shall pen and press and soul be dumb | P |
| - | |
| No by each spot of haunted ground | Q |
| Where Freedom weeps her children's fall | R |
| By Plymouth's rock and Bunker's mound | Q |
| By Griswold's stained and shattered wall | R |
| By Warren's ghost by Langdon's shade | K |
| By all the memories of our dead | S |
| - | |
| By their enlarging souls which burst | T |
| The bands and fetters round them set | U |
| By the free Pilgrim spirit nursed | T |
| Within our inmost bosoms yet | U |
| By all above around below | I |
| Be ours the indignant answer No | I |
| - | |
| No guided by our country's laws | V |
| For truth and right and suffering man | W |
| Be ours to strive in Freedom's cause | X |
| As Christians may as freemen can | W |
| Still pouring on unwilling ears | Y |
| That truth oppression only fears | Y |
| - | |
| What shall we guard our neighbor still | Z |
| While woman shrieks beneath his rod | L |
| And while he trampels down at will | Z |
| The image of a common God | L |
| Shall watch and ward be round him set | U |
| Of Northern nerve and bayonet | U |
| - | |
| And shall we know and share with him | A2 |
| The danger and the growing shame | B2 |
| And see our Freedom's light grow dim | A2 |
| Which should have filled the world with flame | B2 |
| And writhing feel where'er we turn | C2 |
| A world's reproach around us burn | C2 |
| - | |
| Is't not enough that this is borne | D |
| And asks our haughty neighbor more | D2 |
| Must fetters which his slaves have worn | D |
| Clank round the Yankee farmer's door | D2 |
| Must he be told beside his plough | E2 |
| What he must speak and when and how | E2 |
| - | |
| Must he be told his freedom stands | F2 |
| On Slavery's dark foundations strong | G2 |
| On breaking hearts and fettered hands | F2 |
| On robbery and crime and wrong | G2 |
| That all his fathers taught is vain | H2 |
| That Freedom's emblem is the chain | H2 |
| - | |
| Its life its soul from slavery drawn | I2 |
| False foul profane Go teach as well | O |
| Of holy Truth from Falsehood born | D |
| Of Heaven refreshed by airs from Hell | O |
| Of Virtue in the arms of Vice | J2 |
| Of Demons planting Paradise | J2 |
| - | |
| Rail on then brethren of the South | K2 |
| Ye shall not hear the truth the less | L2 |
| No seal is on the Yankee's mouth | K2 |
| No fetter on the Yankee's press | L2 |
| From our Green Mountains to the sea | M2 |
| One voice shall thunder We are free | M2 |
John Greenleaf Whittier
(1)
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