Analysis of To Delaware

John Greenleaf Whittier 1807 (Haverhill) – 1892 (Hampton Falls)



THRICE welcome to thy sisters of the East,
To the strong tillers of a rugged home,
With spray-wet locks to Northern winds released,
And hardy feet o'erswept by ocean's foam;
And to the young nymphs of the golden West,
Whose harvest mantles, fringed with prairie bloom,
Trail in the sunset, — O redeemed and blest,
To the warm welcome of thy sisters come!
Broad Pennsylvania, down her sail-white bay
Shall give thee joy, and Jersey from her plains,
And the great lakes, where echo, free alway,
Moaned never shoreward with the clank of chains,
Shall weave new sun-bows in their tossing spray,
And all their waves keep grateful holiday.
And, smiling on thee through her mountain rains,
Vermont shall bless thee; and the granite peaks,
And vast Katahdin o'er his woods, shall wear
Their snow-crowns brighter in the cold, keen air;
And Massachusetts, with her rugged cheeks
O'errun with grateful tears, shall turn to thee,
When, at thy bidding, the electric wire
Shall tremble northward with its words of fire;
Glory and praise to God! another State is free!


Scheme ABABCDCEFGHGFFGIJJIKLLK
Poetic Form
Metre 1101110101 101110101 1111110101 010111101 0101110101 1101011101 100110101 1011011101 101010111 1111010101 001111011 1101010111 1111101101 011111010 0101110101 0111100101 011101111 1111000111 001010101 111011111 11110001010 11010111110 100111010111
Closest metre Iambic pentameter
Characters 1,041
Words 181
Sentences 5
Stanzas 1
Stanza Lengths 23
Lines Amount 23
Letters per line (avg) 36
Words per line (avg) 8
Letters per stanza (avg) 832
Words per stanza (avg) 179
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Submitted on May 13, 2011

Modified on March 05, 2023

55 sec read
34

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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