Analysis of The Shoemakers
John Greenleaf Whittier 1807 (Haverhill) – 1892 (Hampton Falls)
Ho! workers of the old time styled
The Gentle Craft of Leather!
Young brothers of the ancient guild,
Stand forth once more together!
Call out again your long array,
In the olden merry manner!
Once more, on gay St. Crispin's day,
Fling out your blazoned banner!
Rap, rap! upon the well-worn stone
How falls the polished hammer!
Rap, rap! the measured sound has grown
A quick and merry clamor.
Now shape the sole! now deftly curl
The glossy vamp around it,
And bless the while the bright-eyed girl
Whose gentle fingers bound it!
For you, along the Spanish main
A hundred keels are ploughing;
For you, the Indian on the plain
His lasso-coil is throwing;
For you, deep glens with hemlock dark
The woodman's fire is lighting;
For you, upon the oak's gray bark,
The woodman's axe is smiting.
For you, from Carolina's pine
The rosin-gum is stealing;
For you, the dark-eyed Florentine
Her silken skein is reeling;
For you, the dizzy goatherd roams
His rugged Alpine ledges;
For you, round all her shepherd homes,
Bloom England's thorny hedges.
The foremost still, by day or night,
On moated mound or heather,
Whete'er the need of trampled right
Brought toiling men together;
Where the free burghers from the wall
Defied the mail-clad master,
Than yours, at Freedom's trumpet-call,
No craftsmen rallied faster.
Let foplings sneer, let fools deride,
Ye heed no idle scorner;
Free hands and hearts are still your pride,
And duty done, your honor.
Ye dare to trust, for honest fame,
The jury Time empanels,
And leave to truth each noble name
Which glorifies your annals.
Thy songs, Han Sachs, are living yet,
In strong and hearty German;
And Bloomfield's lay, and Gifford's wit,
And patriot fame of Sherman;
Still from his book, a mystic seer,
The soul of Behmen teaches,
And England's priestcraft shakes to hear
Of Fox's leathern breeches.
The foot is yours; where'er it falls,
It treads your well-wrought leather,
On earthen floor, in marble halls,
On carpet, or on heather.
Still there the sweetest charm is found
Of matron grace or vestal's,
As Hebe's foot bore nectar round
Among the old celestials!
Rap, rap! — your stout and bluff brogan,
With footsteps slow and weary,
May wander where the sky's blue span
Shuts down upon the prairie.
On Beauty's foot your slippers glance,
By Saratoga's fountains,
Or twinkle down the summer dance
Beneath the Crystal Mountains!
The red brick to the mason's hand,
The brown earth to the tiller's,
The shoe in yours shall wealth command,
Like fairy Cinderella's!
As they who shunned the household maid
Beheld the crown upon her,
So all shall see your toil repaid
With hearth and home and honor.
Then let the toast be freely quaffed,
In water cool and brimming,
'All honor to the good old Craft,
Its merry men and women!'
Call out again your long array,
In the old time's pleasant manner:
Once more, on gay St. Crispin's day,
Fling out his blazoned banner!
Scheme | abcbDbDbebebfgfghihiiiiijikilmlmnbnbobobpbpbqlqrstgtuvulwbwbxlxltyzy1 2 1 2 3 l3 l4 B4 bai5 tdbdb |
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Poetic Form | |
Metre | 11010111 0101110 11010101 1111010 11011101 00101010 1111111 111110 11010111 1101010 11010111 0101010 11011101 0101011 01010111 1101011 11010101 010111 110100101 1101110 1111111 0110110 11010111 01111 1110101 0101110 1101110 0101110 1101011 110110 11110101 1101010 0111111 111110 1011101 1101010 1011101 0101110 11110101 1101010 1111101 111101 11011111 0101110 11111101 01011 01111101 110110 11111101 0101010 0110101 01001110 11110101 011110 0101111 11011 01111011 1111110 11010101 1101110 11010111 110111 1111101 01011 11110110 111010 11010111 1101010 1111101 1110 11010101 0101010 01110101 011101 01011101 1101 1111011 101010 11111101 1101010 11011101 0101010 11010111 1101010 11011101 00111010 1111111 111110 |
Closest metre | Iambic tetrameter |
Characters | 2,807 |
Words | 500 |
Sentences | 29 |
Stanzas | 1 |
Stanza Lengths | 88 |
Lines Amount | 88 |
Letters per line (avg) | 26 |
Words per line (avg) | 6 |
Letters per stanza (avg) | 2,255 |
Words per stanza (avg) | 497 |
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Submitted on May 13, 2011
Modified on March 05, 2023
- 2:36 min read
- 92 Views
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"The Shoemakers" Poetry.com. STANDS4 LLC, 2024. Web. 29 Apr. 2024. <https://www.poetry.com/poem-analysis/23196/the-shoemakers>.
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