Boston Poem Rhyme Scheme and Analysis
Rhyme Scheme: A BCBCDE FGHGII JKJ LL MENDOO PQPRSS TUTUVV WXWX YOYO EZEZ XOV II BA2B BRBR B2BB2BR C2D2C2E2F2G2 H2BH2BSS I2J2I2J2 SK2SK2L2L2 M2YM2Y N2O2N2O2 OP2OP2Q2Q2Sicut Patribus sit Deus Nobis | A |
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The rocky nook with hilltops three | B |
Looked eastward from the farms | C |
And twice each day the flowing sea | B |
Took Boston in its arms | C |
The men of yore were stout and poor | D |
And sailed for bread to every shore | E |
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And where they went on trade intent | F |
They did what freeman can | G |
Their dauntless ways did all men praise | H |
The merchant was a man | G |
The world was made for honest trade | I |
To plant and eat be none afraid | I |
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The waves that rocked them on the deep | J |
To them their secret told | K |
Said the winds that sung the lads to sleep | J |
'Like us be free and bold ' | - |
The honest waves refuse to slaves | L |
The empire of the ocean caves | L |
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Old Europe groans with palaces | M |
Has lords enough and more | E |
We plant and build by foaming seas | N |
A city of the poor | D |
For day by day could Boston Bay | O |
Their honest labor overpay | O |
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We grant no dukedoms to the few | P |
We hold like rights and shall | Q |
Equal on Sunday in the pew | P |
On Monday in the mall | R |
For what avail the plough or sail | S |
Or land or life if freedom fail | S |
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The noble craftsmen we promote | T |
Disown the knave and fool | U |
Each honest man shall have his vote | T |
Each child shall have his school | U |
A union then of honest men | V |
Or union nevermore again | V |
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The wild rose and the barberry thorn | W |
Hung out their summer pride | X |
Where now on heated pavements worn | W |
The feet of millions stride | X |
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Fair rose the planted hills behind | Y |
The good town on the bay | O |
And where the western hills declined | Y |
The prairie stretched away | O |
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What care though rival cities soar | E |
Along the stormy coast | Z |
Penn's town New York and Baltimore | E |
If Boston knew the most | Z |
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They laughed to know the world so wide | X |
The mountains said 'Good day | O |
We greet you well you Saxon men | V |
Up with your towns and stay ' | - |
The world was made for honest trade | I |
To plant and eat be none afraid | I |
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'For you ' they said 'no barriers be | B |
For you no sluggard rest | A2 |
Each street leads downward to the sea | B |
Or landward to the West ' | - |
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O happy town beside the sea | B |
Whose roads lead everywhere to all | R |
Than thine no deeper moat can be | B |
No stouter fence no steeper wall | R |
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Bad news from George on the English throne | B2 |
'You are thriving well ' said he | B |
'Now by these presents be it known | B2 |
You shall pay us a tax on tea | B |
'Tis very small no load at all | R |
Honor enough that we send the call ' | - |
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'Not so ' said Boston 'good my lord | C2 |
We pay your governors here | D2 |
Abundant for their bed and board | C2 |
Six thousand pounds a year | E2 |
Your highness knows our homely word | F2 |
Millions for self government | G2 |
But for tribute never a cent ' | - |
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The cargo came and who could blame | H2 |
If Indians seized the tea | B |
And chest by chest let down the same | H2 |
Into the laughing sea | B |
For what avail the plough or sail | S |
Or land or life if freedom fail | S |
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The townsmen braved the English king | I2 |
Found friendship in the French | J2 |
And Honor joined the patriot ring | I2 |
Low on their wooden bench | J2 |
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O bounteous seas that never fail | S |
O day remembered yet | K2 |
O happy port that spied the sail | S |
Which wafted Lafayette | K2 |
Pole star of light in Europe's night | L2 |
That never faltered from the right | L2 |
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Kings shook with fear old empires crave | M2 |
The secret force to find | Y |
Which fired the little State to save | M2 |
The rights of all mankind | Y |
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But right is might through all the world | N2 |
Province to province faithful clung | O2 |
Through good and ill the war bolt hurled | N2 |
Till Freedom cheered and the joy bells rung | O2 |
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The sea returning day by day | O |
Restores the world wide mart | P2 |
So let each dweller on the Bay | O |
Fold Boston in his heart | P2 |
Till these echoes be choked with snows | Q2 |
Or over the town blue ocean flows | Q2 |
Ralph Waldo Emerson
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