Analysis of Banished from Massachusetts
John Greenleaf Whittier 1807 (Haverhill) – 1892 (Hampton Falls)
Over the threshold of his pleasant home
Set in green clearings passed the exiled Friend,
In simple trust, misdoubting not the end.
'Dear heart of mine!' he said, 'the time has come
To trust the Lord for shelter.' One long gaze
The goodwife turned on each familiar thing,-
The lowing kine, the orchard blossoming,
The open door that showed the hearth-fire's blaze,-
And calmly answered, 'Yes, He will provide.'
Silent and slow they crossed the homestead's bound,
Lingering the longest by their child's grave-mound.
'Move on, or stay and hang!' the sheriff cried.
They left behind them more than home or land,
And set sad faces to an alien strand.
Safer with winds and waves than human wrath,
With ravening wolves than those whose zeal for God
Was cruelty to man, the exiles trod
Drear leagues of forest without guide or path,
Or launching frail boats on the uncharted sea,
Round storm-vexed capes, whose teeth of granite ground
The waves to foam, their perilous way they wound,
Enduring all things so their souls were free.
Oh, true confessors, shaming them who did
Anew the wrong their Pilgrim Fathers bore
For you the Mayflower spread her sail once more,
Freighted with souls, to all that duty bid
Faithful as they who sought an unknown land,
O'er wintry seas, from Holland's Hook of Sand!
So from his lost home to the darkening main,
Bodeful of storm, stout Macy held his way,
And, when the green shore blended with the gray,
His poor wife moaned: 'Let us turn back again.'
'Nay, woman, weak of faith, kneel down,' said he,
And say thy prayers: the Lord himself will steer;
And led by Him, nor man nor devils I fear!
So the gray Southwicks, from a rainy sea,
Saw, far and faint, the loom of land, and gave
With feeble voices thanks for friendly ground
Whereon to rest their weary feet, and found
A peaceful death-bed and a quiet grave
Where, ocean-walled, and wiser than his age,
The lord of Shelter scorned the bigot's rage.
Aquidneck's isle, Nantucket's lonely shores,
And Indian-haunted Narragansett saw
The way-worn travellers round their camp-fire draw,
Or heard the plashing of their weary oars.
And every place whereon they rested grew
Happier for pure and gracious womanhood,
And men whose names for stainless honor stood,
Founders of States and rulers wise and true.
The Muse of history yet shall make amends
To those who freedom, peace, and justice taught,
Beyond their dark age led the van of thought,
And left unforfeited the name of Friends.
O mother State, how foiled was thy design
The gain was theirs, the loss alone was thine.
Scheme | XAAXBCCBDEEDFF GHHGIEEIJKKJFF XLLXIMMINEENOOPQQPRSSRTUUTVV |
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Poetic Form | |
Metre | 100111101 10111011 01011101 1111110111 1101110111 011110101 0101010100 01011101101 0101011101 100111011 10001011111 1111010101 1101111111 01110111001 1011011101 111111111 11011011 1111001111 11011100101 1111111101 01111100111 0101111101 11110111 0101110101 1101010111 111111101 1011111011 10101110111 11111101001 111110111 0101110101 1111111101 1101111111 0111010111 01111111011 101110101 1101011101 1101011101 111110101 0101100101 1101010111 011101011 1110101 0100100101 011100111101 110111101 0100111101 1001101010 0111110101 1011010101 01110011101 1111010101 0111110111 0110111 1101111101 0111010111 |
Closest metre | Iambic pentameter |
Characters | 2,498 |
Words | 452 |
Sentences | 18 |
Stanzas | 3 |
Stanza Lengths | 14, 14, 28 |
Lines Amount | 56 |
Letters per line (avg) | 36 |
Words per line (avg) | 8 |
Letters per stanza (avg) | 666 |
Words per stanza (avg) | 147 |
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Submitted on May 13, 2011
Modified on March 05, 2023
- 2:16 min read
- 84 Views
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"Banished from Massachusetts" Poetry.com. STANDS4 LLC, 2024. Web. 11 Jun 2024. <https://www.poetry.com/poem-analysis/22856/banished-from-massachusetts>.
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