Analysis of To The Thirty-Ninth Congress



O PEOPLE-CHOSEN! are ye not
Likewise the chosen of the Lord,
To do His will and speak His word?
From the loud thunder-storm of war
Not man alone hath called ye forth,
But He, the God of all the earth!
The torch of vengeance in your hands
He quenches; unto Him belongs
The solemn recompense of wrongs.
Enough of blood the land has seen,
And not by cell or gallows-stair
Shall ye the way of God prepare.
Say to the pardon-seekers: Keep
Your manhood, bend no suppliant knees,
Nor palter with unworthy pleas.
Above your voices sounds the wail
Of starving men; we shut in vain
Our eyes to Pillow's ghastly stain.
What words can drown that bitter cry?
What tears wash out the stain of death?
What oaths confirm your broken faith?
From you alone the guaranty
Of union, freedom, peace, we claim;
We urge no conqueror's terms of shame.
Alas! no victor's pride is ours;
We bend above our triumphs won
Like David o'er his rebel son.
Be men, not beggars. Cancel all
By one brave, generous action; trust
Your better instincts, and be just!
Make all men peers before the law,
Take hands from off the negro's throat,
Give black and white an equal vote.
Keep all your forfeit lives and lands,
But give the common law's redress
To labor's utter nakedness.
Revive the old heroic will;
Be in the right as brave and strong
As ye have proved yourselves in wrong.
Defeat shall then be victory,
Your loss the wealth of full amends,
And hate be love, and foes be friends.
Then buried be the dreadful past,
Its common slain be mourned, and let
All memories soften to regret.
Then shall the Union's mother-heart
Her lost and wandering ones recall,
Forgiving and restoring all, —
And Freedom break her marble trance
Above the Capitolian dome,
Stretch hands, and bid ye welcome home!


Scheme ABCDEFGHHIJJKLLMNNOPQRSSTUUVWWXYYGZG1 2 2 R3 3 4 5 5 6 VV7 8 8
Poetic Form
Metre 11010111 1010101 11110111 10110111 11011111 11011101 01110011 11010101 0101011 01110111 01111101 11011101 11010101 111111 1110101 01110101 11011101 10111101 11111101 11110111 11011101 1101001 11010111 111100111 011101110 110110101 110101101 11110101 111100101 11010011 11110101 1111011 11011101 11110101 11010101 110101 01010101 10011101 11110101 01111100 11011101 01110111 11010101 11011101 110010101 11010101 01010011 01000101 01010101 01011 11011101
Closest metre Iambic tetrameter
Characters 1,715
Words 318
Sentences 22
Stanzas 1
Stanza Lengths 51
Lines Amount 51
Letters per line (avg) 27
Words per line (avg) 6
Letters per stanza (avg) 1,374
Words per stanza (avg) 316
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Submitted on May 13, 2011

Modified on March 05, 2023

1:37 min read
51

John Greenleaf Whittier

John Greenleaf Whittier was an influential American Quaker poet and ardent advocate of the abolition of slavery in the United States. more…

All John Greenleaf Whittier poems | John Greenleaf Whittier Books

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