Analysis of A Song For Freedom
Come all ye bondmen far and near,
Let's put a song in massa's ear,
It is a song for our poor race,
Who're whipped and trampled with disgrace.
Chorus.
My old massa tells me O
This is a land of freedom O;
Let's look about and see if't is so,
Just as massa tells me O.
He tells us of that glorious one,
I think his name was Washington,
How he did fight for liberty,
To save a threepence tax on tea.
Chorus.
My old massa, &c.
And then he tells us that there was
A Constitution, with this clause,
That all men equal were created,
How often have we heard it stated.
Chorus.
My old massa, &c.
But now we look about and see,
That we poor blacks are not so free;
We 're whipped and thrashed about like fools,
And have no chance at common schools.
Chorus.
Still, my old massa, &c.
They take our wives, insult and mock,
And sell our children on the block,
Then choke us if we say a word,
And say that 'niggers' shan't be heard.
Chorus.
Still, my old massa, &c.
Our preachers, too, with whip and cord,
Command obedience in the Lord;
They say they learn it from the book,
But for ourselves we dare not look.
Chorus.
Still, my old massa tells me O,
This is a
Christian
country O, &c.
There is a country far away,
Friend Hopper says 't is Canada,
And if we reach Victoria's shore,
He says that we are slaves no more.
Chorus.
Now hasten all bondmen, let us go
And leave this Christian country O;
Haste to the land of the British Queen,
Where whips for negroes are not seen.
Now if we go, we must take the night-
We're sure to die if we come in sight-
The blood-hounds will be on our track,
And wo to us if they fetch us back.
Chorus.
Now haste all bondmen, let us go,
And leave this
Christian
country O;
God help us to Victoria's shore,
Where we are free and slaves no more.
Scheme | xxaa Bcccc ddee BE xxff BE eegg BE hhii BE jjkk BclDe xlmm Bccnn oopp BcxDcmm |
---|---|
Poetic Form | |
Metre | 1111101 1101011 110111011 101010101 10 1110111 11011101 1101011111 1110111 111111001 11111100 11111100 1101111 10 11101 01111111 0010111 111100010 110111110 10 11101 11110101 11111111 111010111 01111101 10 111101 111010101 011010101 11111101 011101111 10 111101 101011101 010100001 11111101 110011111 10 11110111 110 10 1011 11010101 110111100 011101001 11111111 10 11011111 01110101 110110101 11110111 111111101 111111101 011111101 011111111 10 1111111 011 10 101 111101001 11110111 |
Closest metre | Iambic trimeter |
Characters | 1,707 |
Words | 350 |
Sentences | 25 |
Stanzas | 16 |
Stanza Lengths | 4, 5, 4, 2, 4, 2, 4, 2, 4, 2, 4, 5, 4, 5, 4, 7 |
Lines Amount | 62 |
Letters per line (avg) | 21 |
Words per line (avg) | 6 |
Letters per stanza (avg) | 83 |
Words per stanza (avg) | 22 |
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Submitted on May 13, 2011
Modified on March 05, 2023
- 1:47 min read
- 44 Views
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"A Song For Freedom" Poetry.com. STANDS4 LLC, 2024. Web. 13 May 2024. <https://www.poetry.com/poem-analysis/3338/a-song-for-freedom>.
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