Analysis of To The White People Of America
O'er this wide extended country,
Hear the solemn echoes roll,
For a long and weary century,
Those cries have gone from pole to pole;
See the white man sway his sceptre,
In one hand he holds the rod—
In the other hand the Scripture,
And says that he's a man of God.
Hear ye that mourning?
'Tis your brothers' cry!
O! ye wicked men take warning,
The day will come when you must die.
Lo! Ten thousand steeples shining
Through this mighty Christian land,
While four millions slaves all pining
And dying 'neath the Tyrant's hand.
See the 'blood-stained' Christian banner
Followed by a host of saints
While they loudly sing Hosannah,
We hear the dying slave's complaints:
Hear ye that mourning?
Anglo-sons of God,
O! ye Hypocrites take warning,
And shun your sable brothers blood.
In our Legislative members,
Few there are with humane souls,
Though they speak in tones of thunder
'Gainst sins which they cannot control,
Women's rights and annexation,
Is the topic by the way,
While poor Africa's sable nation
For mercy, cry both by night and day.
Hear ye that mourning?
'Tis a solemn sound,
O! ye wicked men take warning,
For God will send his judgment down.
Tell us not of distant Island —
Never will we colonize:
Send us not to British Highlands,
For this is neither just nor wise,
Give us equal rights and chances,
All the rights of citizens —
And as light and truth advances,
We'll show you that we all are men.
Hear ye that mourning?
Tis your brothers sigh,
O! ye wicked men take warning,
The judgment day will come by
Scheme | ababcdcd EfEf egegchih Edex xxcbijij ExEi xkxklxli EfEf |
---|---|
Poetic Form | |
Metre | 101101010 1010101 101010100 11111111 10111110 0111101 00101010 01110111 11110 11101 11101110 01111111 11101010 1110101 11101110 0101011 10111010 1010111 111011 11010101 11110 10111 1110110 01110101 01010010 1111011 11101110 11111001 1010010 1010101 111001010 110111101 11110 10101 11101110 11111101 11111010 101110 11111010 11110111 11101010 1011100 01101010 11111111 11110 11101 11101110 0101111 |
Closest metre | Iambic tetrameter |
Characters | 1,484 |
Words | 275 |
Sentences | 18 |
Stanzas | 8 |
Stanza Lengths | 8, 4, 8, 4, 8, 4, 8, 4 |
Lines Amount | 48 |
Letters per line (avg) | 25 |
Words per line (avg) | 6 |
Letters per stanza (avg) | 148 |
Words per stanza (avg) | 34 |
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Submitted on May 13, 2011
Modified on March 05, 2023
- 1:24 min read
- 31 Views
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"To The White People Of America" Poetry.com. STANDS4 LLC, 2024. Web. 1 May 2024. <https://www.poetry.com/poem-analysis/43143/to-the-white-people-of-america>.
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