Analysis of Freedom

Ralph Waldo Emerson 1803 (Boston) – 1882 (Concord)



Once I wished I might rehearse
Freedom's paean in my verse,
That the slave who caught the strain
Should throb until he snapped his chain.
But the Spirit said, 'Not so;
Speak it not, or speak it low;
Name not lightly to be said,
Gift too precious to be prayed,
Passion not to be expressed
But by heaving of the breast:
Yet,--wouldst thou the mountain find
Where this deity is shrined,
Who gives to seas and sunset skies
Their unspent beauty of surprise,
And, when it lists him, waken can
Brute or savage into man;
Or, if in thy heart he shine,
Blends the starry fates with thine,
Draws angels nigh to dwell with thee,
And makes thy thoughts archangels be;
Freedom's secret wilt thou know?--
Counsel not with flesh and blood;
Loiter not for cloak or food;
Right thou feelest, rush to do.'


Scheme AABBCCDEFFGDHHIIJJKKCLMN
Poetic Form
Metre 1111101 1010011 1011101 11011111 1010111 1111111 1110111 1110111 1011101 1110101 1110101 1110011 1111011 10110101 01111101 1110011 1101111 1010111 11011111 0111101 1010111 1011101 1011111 111111
Closest metre Iambic tetrameter
Characters 771
Words 149
Sentences 4
Stanzas 1
Stanza Lengths 24
Lines Amount 24
Letters per line (avg) 25
Words per line (avg) 6
Letters per stanza (avg) 610
Words per stanza (avg) 144
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Submitted on May 13, 2011

Modified on April 25, 2023

45 sec read
181

Ralph Waldo Emerson

Ralph Waldo Emerson was an American essayist, lecturer, and poet, who led the Transcendentalist movement of the mid-19th century. more…

All Ralph Waldo Emerson poems | Ralph Waldo Emerson Books

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