Analysis of America--

Janet Hamilton 1795 (Scotland) – 1873



'Peace, peace, O peace!' sweet peace, descend,
The cloud of war asunder rend;
Thy gentle reign alone restores
Rest to Columbia's ravaged shores!

Peace, peace! Shall still your brother's blood
Cry from the ground-'the purple flood
Is swelling high, soon to o'erflow
In tides of ruin, shame, and woe?'

Peace, peace! We know your ends and aims,
Your wild, ambitious, monstrous claims;
The States shall reign, the globe a throne,
Your sceptre sway the world alone!

Peace, peace! Wild dreamers, what are ye?
A people now or yet to be?
Or but a rude conglomeration
Of every kindred, tongue, and nation?

Peace, peace! No more of boast or vaunt,
Of false pretence, or lying cant;
Is it, indeed, to free the 'niggers'
You lap white blood like thirsty tigers?

Peace, peace! and hold your braggart tongue,
Tall for your years, wild, reckless, young;
We've borne it long, but there's an end,
Beware, my boy, your speech amend!

Peace, peace! O pause, and take a breath;
Your horrid carnival of death
Is so exhausting; credit, gold,
Blood, name, and fame-all, all are sold!

Peace, peace! I've heard the lying mouth
Say all 'your sympathies go South,'
'Tis false! aversion, horror, scorn
Is due where slaves are bred and born!

Peace, peace! Let go the South for ever,
United States again? no-never!
The bond is loosed, the die is cast,
The Rubicon of Fate is passed!


Scheme AABB CCXX DDEE FFGG AXHH IIAA JJKK LLMM NNOO
Poetic Form Quatrain  (89%)
Metre 11111101 01110101 11010101 110100101 11111101 11011101 1101111 01110101 11111101 11010101 01110101 11010101 11110111 01011111 11010010 1100101010 11111111 1111101 110111010 111111010 1101111 11111101 11111111 01111101 11110101 11010011 11010101 11011111 11110101 11110011 11010101 11111101 111101110 010101110 01110111 01001111
Closest metre Iambic tetrameter
Characters 1,324
Words 239
Sentences 24
Stanzas 9
Stanza Lengths 4, 4, 4, 4, 4, 4, 4, 4, 4
Lines Amount 36
Letters per line (avg) 28
Words per line (avg) 7
Letters per stanza (avg) 114
Words per stanza (avg) 26
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Submitted on May 13, 2011

Modified on March 05, 2023

1:12 min read
96

Janet Hamilton

Janet Hamilton was a nineteenth-century Scottish poet. more…

All Janet Hamilton poems | Janet Hamilton Books

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