Formerly A Slave
Herman Melville 1819 – 1891
The sufferance of her race is shown,
And retrospect of life,
Which now too late deliverance dawns upon;
Yet is she not at strife.
Her children's children they shall know
The good withheld from her;
And so her reverie takes prophetic cheer--
In spirit she sees the stir.
Far down the depth of thousand years,
And marks the revel shine;
Her dusky face is lit with sober light,
Sibylline, yet benign.
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Submitted on May 13, 2011
Modified on April 11, 2023
- 22 sec read
- 321 Views
Quick analysis:
Scheme | XAXA XBXB XCXC |
---|---|
Closest metre | Iambic tetrameter |
Characters | 394 |
Words | 73 |
Stanzas | 3 |
Stanza Lengths | 4, 4, 4 |
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"Formerly A Slave" Poetry.com. STANDS4 LLC, 2024. Web. 29 Mar. 2024. <https://www.poetry.com/poem/19065/formerly-a-slave>.
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