The Pennsylvania Pilgrim Poem Rhyme Scheme and Analysis
Rhyme Scheme: A BCBCCBCDEDCEED B FFF GGG HHH III EEE JJJ KKK LJL MMM NNO PAP QQQ RRR SSS TTT UUU GGG GGG VV WXX YY UUU UUU ZZZ A2A2A2 B2B2B2 JXC2 UUU BBB UUU BBB UU UUU UU UUU VVV UU D2D2D2 UUU UUU UUU E2E2E2 UUU UUU UUU UUU F2F2F2 G2G2H2 UUU UUU RRR I2J2J2 EEE LG2Prelude | A |
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I sing the Pilgrim of a softer clime | B |
And milder speech than those brave men's who brought | C |
To the ice and iron of our winter time | B |
A will as firm a creed as stern and wrought | C |
With one mailed hand and with the other fought | C |
Simply as fits my theme in homely rhyme | B |
I sing the blue eyed German Spener taught | C |
Through whose veiled mystic faith the Inward Light | D |
Steady and still an easy brightness shone | E |
Transfiguring all things in its radiance white | D |
The garland which his meekness never sought | C |
I bring him over fields of harvest sown | E |
With seeds of blessing now to ripeness grown | E |
I bid the sower pass before the reapers' sight | D |
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The Pennsylvania Pilgrim | B |
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Never in tenderer quiet lapsed the day | F |
From Pennsylvania's vales of spring away | F |
Where forest walled the scattered hamlets lay | F |
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Along the wedded rivers One long bar | G |
Of purple cloud on which the evening star | G |
Shone like a jewel on a scimitar | G |
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Held the sky's golden gateway Through the deep | H |
Hush of the woods a murmur seemed to creep | H |
The Schuylkill whispering in a voice of sleep | H |
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All else was still The oxen from their ploughs | I |
Rested at last and from their long day's browse | I |
Came the dun files of Krisheim's home bound cows | I |
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And the young city round whose virgin zone | E |
The rivers like two mighty arms were thrown | E |
Marked by the smoke of evening fires alone | E |
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Lay in the distance lovely even then | J |
With its fair women and its stately men | J |
Gracing the forest court of William Penn | J |
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Urban yet sylvan in its rough hewn frames | K |
Of oak and pine the dryads held their claims | K |
And lent its streets their pleasant woodland names | K |
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Anna Pastorius down the leafy lane | L |
Looked city ward then stooped to prune again | J |
Her vines and simples with a sigh of pain | L |
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For fast the streaks of ruddy sunset paled | M |
In the oak clearing and as daylight failed | M |
Slow overhead the dusky night birds sailed | M |
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Again she looked between green walls of shade | N |
With low bent head as if with sorrow weighed | N |
Daniel Pastorius slowly came and said | O |
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'God's peace be with thee Anna ' Then he stood | P |
Silent before her wrestling with the mood | A |
Of one who sees the evil and not good | P |
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'What is it my Pastorius ' As she spoke | Q |
A slow faint smile across his features broke | Q |
Sadder than tears 'Dear heart ' he said 'our folk | Q |
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'Are even as others Yea our goodliest Friends | R |
Are frail our elders have their selfish ends | R |
And few dare trust the Lord to make amends | R |
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'For duty's loss So even our feeble word | S |
For the dumb slaves the startled meeting heard | S |
As if a stone its quiet waters stirred | S |
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'And as the clerk ceased reading there began | T |
A ripple of dissent which downward ran | T |
In widening circles as from man to man | T |
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'Somewhat was said of running before sent | U |
Of tender fear that some their guide outwent | U |
Troublers of Israel I was scarce intent | U |
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'On hearing for behind the reverend row | G |
Of gallery Friends in dumb and piteous show | G |
I saw methought dark faces full of woe | G |
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'And in the spirit I was taken where | G |
They toiled and suffered I was made aware | G |
Of shame and wrath and anguish and despair | G |
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'And while the meeting smothered our poor plea | V |
With cautious phrase a Voice there seemed to be | V |
As ye have done to these ye do to me ' | - |
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'So it all passed and the old tithe went on | W |
Of anise mint and cumin till the sun | X |
Set leaving still the weightier work undone | X |
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'Help for the good man faileth Who is strong | Y |
If these be weak Who shall rebuke the wrong | Y |
If these consent How long O Lord how long ' | - |
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He ceased and bound in spirit with the bound | U |
With folded arms and eyes that sought the ground | U |
Walked musingly his little garden round | U |
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About him beaded with the falling dew | U |
Rare plants of power and herbs of healing grew | U |
Such as Van Helmont and Agrippa knew | U |
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For by the lore of Gorlitz' gentle sage | Z |
With the mild mystics of his dreamy age | Z |
He read the herbal signs of nature's page | Z |
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As once he heard in sweet Von Merlau's' bowers | A2 |
Fair as herself in boyhood's happy hours | A2 |
The pious Spener read his creed in flowers | A2 |
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'The dear Lord give us patience ' said his wife | B2 |
Touching with finger tip an aloe rife | B2 |
With leaves sharp pointed like an Aztec knife | B2 |
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Or Carib spear a gift to William Penn | J |
From the rare gardens of John Evelyn | X |
Brought from the Spanish Main by merchantmen | C2 |
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'See this strange plant its steady purpose hold | U |
And year by year its patient leaves unfold | U |
Till the young eyes that watched it first are old | U |
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'But some time thou hast told me there shall come | B |
A sudden beauty brightness and perfume | B |
The century moulded bud shall burst in bloom | B |
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'So may the seed which hath been sown to day | U |
Grow with the years and after long delay | U |
Break into bloom and God's eternal Yea | U |
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'Answer at last the patient prayers of them | B |
Who now by faith alone behold its stem | B |
Crowned with the flowers of Freedom's diadem | B |
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'Meanwhile to feel and suffer work and wait | U |
Remains for us The wrong indeed is great | U |
But love and patience conquer soon or late ' | - |
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'Well hast thou said my Anna ' Tenderer | U |
Than youth's caress upon the head of her | U |
Pastorius laid his hand 'Shall we demur | U |
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'Because the vision tarrieth In an hour | U |
We dream not of the slow grown bud may flower | U |
And what was sown in weakness rise in power ' | - |
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Then through the vine draped door whose legend read | U |
'Procul este profani ' Anna led | U |
To where their child upon his little bed | U |
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Looked up and smiled 'Dear heart ' she said 'if we | V |
Must bearers of a heavy burden be | V |
Our boy God willing yet the day shall see | V |
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'When from the gallery to the farthest seat | U |
Slave and slave owner shall no longer meet | U |
But all sit equal at the Master's feet ' | - |
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On the stone hearth the blazing walnut block | D2 |
Set the low walls a glimmer showed the cock | D2 |
Rebuking Peter on the Van Wyck clock | D2 |
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Shone on old tomes of law and physic side | U |
By side with Fox and Belimen played at hide | U |
And seek with Anna midst her household pride | U |
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Of flaxen webs and on the table bare | U |
Of costly cloth or silver cup but where | U |
Tasting the fat shads of the Delaware | U |
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The courtly Penn had praised the goodwife's cheer | U |
And quoted Horace o'er her home brewed beer | U |
Till even grave Pastorius smiled to hear | U |
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In such a home beside the Schuylkill's wave | E2 |
He dwelt in peace with God and man and gave | E2 |
Food to the poor and shelter to the slave | E2 |
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For all too soon the New World's scandal shamed | U |
The righteous code by Penn and Sidney framed | U |
And men withheld the human rights they claimed | U |
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And slowly wealth and station sanction lent | U |
And hardened avarice on its gains intent | U |
Stifled the inward whisper of dissent | U |
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Yet all the while the burden rested sore | U |
On tender hearts At last Pastorius bore | U |
Their warning message to the Church's door | U |
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In God's name and the leaven of the word | U |
Wrought ever after in the souls who heard | U |
And a dead conscience in its grave clothes stirred | U |
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To troubled life and urged the vain excuse | F2 |
Of Hebrew custom patriarchal use | F2 |
Good in itself if evil in abuse | F2 |
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Gravely Pastorius listened not the less | G2 |
Discerning through the decent fig leaf dress | G2 |
Of the poor plea its shame of selfishness | H2 |
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One Scripture rule at least was unforgot | U |
He hid the outcast and betrayed him not | U |
And when his prey the human hunter sought | U |
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He scrupled not while Anna's wise delay | U |
And proffered cheer prolonged the master's stay | U |
To speed the black guest safely on his way | U |
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Yet who shall guess his bitter grief who lends | R |
His life to some great cause and finds his friends | R |
Shame or betray it for their private ends | R |
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How felt the Master when his chosen strove | I2 |
In childish folly for their seats above | J2 |
And that fond mother blinded by her love | J2 |
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Besought him that her sons beside his throne | E |
Might sit on either hand Amidst his own | E |
A stranger oft companionless and lone | E |
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God's priest and prophet stands The martyr's pain | L |
Is not alone from s | G2 |
John Greenleaf Whittier
(1)
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