Analysis of After Election
John Greenleaf Whittier 1807 (Haverhill) – 1892 (Hampton Falls)
THE day's sharp strife is ended now,
Our work is done, God knoweth how!
As on the thronged, unrestful town
The patience of the moon looks down,
I wait to hear, beside the wire,
The voices of its tongues of fire.
Slow, doubtful, faint,they seem at first:
Be strong, my heart, to know the worst!
Hark! there the Alleghanies spoke;
That sound from lake and prairie broke,
That sunset-gun of triumph rent
The silence of a continent!
That signal from Nebraska sprung,
This, from Nevada's mountain tongue!
Is that thy answer, strong and free,
O loyal heart of Tennessee?
What strange, glad voice is that which calls
From Wagner's grave and Sumter's walls?
From Mississippi's fountain-head
A sound as of the hisoh's tread!
There rustled freedom's Charter Oak!
In that wild burst the Ozarks spoke!
Cheer answers cheer from rise to set
Of sun. We have a country yet!
The praise, O God, be thine alone!
Thou givest not for bread a stone;
Thou hast not led us through the night
To blind us with returning light;
Not through the furnace have we passed,
To perish at its mouth at last.
O night of peace, thy flight restrain!
November's moon, be slow to wane!
Shine on the freedman's cabin floor,
On brows of prayer a blessing pour;
And give, with full assurance blest,
The weary heart of Freedom rest!
Scheme | AABBCCDDEEFGHHIIJJKKEELLMMNNOOPPQQRR |
---|---|
Poetic Form | |
Metre | 01111101 10111111 110111 01010111 111101010 010111110 1101111 11111101 11011 11110101 1111101 01010100 11010101 11010101 11110101 1101101 11111111 1101011 1010101 0111011 1110101 0111011 11011111 11110101 01111101 1111101 11111101 11110101 11010111 11011111 11111101 01011111 11010101 11110101 01110101 01011101 |
Closest metre | Iambic tetrameter |
Characters | 1,261 |
Words | 232 |
Sentences | 19 |
Stanzas | 1 |
Stanza Lengths | 36 |
Lines Amount | 36 |
Letters per line (avg) | 28 |
Words per line (avg) | 6 |
Letters per stanza (avg) | 1,001 |
Words per stanza (avg) | 229 |
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Submitted on May 13, 2011
Modified on March 05, 2023
- 1:12 min read
- 110 Views
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"After Election" Poetry.com. STANDS4 LLC, 2024. Web. 5 May 2024. <https://www.poetry.com/poem-analysis/22836/after-election>.
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