The Problem Poem Rhyme Scheme and Analysis
Rhyme Scheme: ABCDEDEFFGGHGGHAIJJI JKLMNOOPPPQR| I | A |
| NOT without envy Wealth at times must look | B |
| On their brown strength who wield the reaping hook ' | C |
| And scythe or at the forge fire shape the plough | D |
| Or the steel harness of the steeds of steam | E |
| All who by skill and patience anyhow | D |
| Make service noble and the earth redeem | E |
| From savageness By kingly accolade | F |
| Than theirs was never worthier knighthood made | F |
| Well for them if while demagogues their vain | G |
| And evil counsels proffer they maintain | G |
| Their honest manhood unseduced and wage | H |
| No war with Labor's right to Labor's gain | G |
| Of sweet home comfort rest of hand and brain | G |
| And softer pillow for the head of Age | H |
| II | A |
| And well for Gain if it ungrudging yields | I |
| Labor its just demand and well for Ease | J |
| If in the uses of its own it sees | J |
| No wrong to him who tills its pleasant fields | I |
| And spreads the table of its luxuries | J |
| The interests of the rich man and the poor | K |
| Are one and same inseparable evermore | L |
| And when scant wage or labor fail to give | M |
| Food shelter raiment wherewithal to live | N |
| Need has its rights necessity its claim | O |
| Yea even self wrought misery and shame | O |
| Test well the charity suffering long and kind | P |
| The home pressed question of the age can find | P |
| No answer in the catch words of the blind | P |
| Leaders of blind Solution there is none | Q |
| Save in the Golden Rule of Christ alone | R |
John Greenleaf Whittier
(1)
Poem topics: , Print This Poem , Rhyme Scheme
Submit Spanish Translation
Submit German Translation
Submit French Translation
Write your comment about The Problem poem by John Greenleaf Whittier
Best Poems of John Greenleaf Whittier