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 Views
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"Freedom" Poetry.com. STANDS4 LLC, 2024. Web. 28 Apr. 2024. <https://www.poetry.com/poem-analysis/29810/freedom>.
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