To William E. Channing

Henry Wadsworth Longfellow 1807 (Portland) – 1882 (Cambridge)



The pages of thy book I read,
  And as I closed each one,
My heart, responding, ever said,
  "Servant of God! well done!"

Well done!  Thy words are great and bold;
  At times they seem to me,
Like Luther's, in the days of old,
  Half-battles for the free.

Go on, until this land revokes
  The old and chartered Lie,
The feudal curse, whose whips and yokes
  Insult humanity.

A voice is ever at thy side
  Speaking in tones of might,
Like the prophetic voice, that cried
  To John in Patmos, "Write!"

Write! and tell out this bloody tale;
  Record this dire eclipse,
This Day of Wrath, this Endless Wail,
  This dread Apocalypse!

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Submitted on May 13, 2011

Modified on March 05, 2023

34 sec read
140

Quick analysis:

Scheme ABAB CDCD EXED FGFG HEHE
Closest metre Iambic tetrameter
Characters 617
Words 116
Stanzas 5
Stanza Lengths 4, 4, 4, 4, 4

Henry Wadsworth Longfellow

Henry Wadsworth Longfellow was an American poet and educator whose works include "Paul Revere's Ride", The Song of Hiawatha, and Evangeline. more…

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    "To William E. Channing" Poetry.com. STANDS4 LLC, 2024. Web. 28 Mar. 2024. <https://www.poetry.com/poem/18977/to-william-e.-channing>.

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