Analysis of Jefferson's Daughter
'It is asserted, on the authority of an American Newspaper, that the
daughter of Thomas Jefferson, late President of the United States, was
sold at New Orleans for $1,000.'-Morning Chronicle.
Can the blood that, at Lexington, poured o'er the plain,
When the sons warred with tyrants their rights to uphold,
Can the tide of Niagara wipe out the stain?
No! Jefferson's child has been bartered for gold!
Do you boast of your freedom? Peace, babblers-be still;
Prate not of the goddess who scarce deigns to hear;
Have ye power to unbind? Are ye wanting in will?
Must the groans of your bondman still torture the ear?
The daughter of Jefferson sold for a slave!
The child of a freeman for dollars and francs!
The roar of applause, when your orators rave,
Is lost in the sound of her chain, as it clanks.
Peace, then, ye blasphemers of Liberty's name!
Though red was the blood by your forefathers spilt,
Still redder your cheeks should be mantled with shame,
Till the spirit of freedom shall cancel the guilt.
But the brand of the slave is the tint of his skin,
Though his heart may beat loyal and true underneath;
While the soul of the tyrant is rotten within,
And his white the mere cloak to the blackness of death.
Are ye deaf to the plaints that each moment arise?
Is it thus ye forget the mild precepts of Penn,-
Unheeding the clamor that 'maddens the skies,'
As ye trample the rights of your dark fellow-men?
When the incense that glows before Liberty's shrine,
Is unmixed with the blood of the galled and oppressed,
O, then, and then only, the boast may be thine,
That the stripes and stars wave o'er a land of the blest.
Scheme | XAX BCBC DEDE FXFA GHGH IXIX JKJK LMLM |
---|---|
Poetic Form | |
Metre | 110101001001101001010 101101001101001011 1111001110100 1011110011001 101111011101 10110101101 11001111011 111111011011 11101011111 111011111001 10111111001 01011001101 01101011001 01101111001 11001101111 111111001 1110111101 1101111111 101011011001 101101101111 11111100101 101101011001 011011101011 111101111001 11110101111 10101101 111001111101 100111011001 101101101001 11011001111 1010111001101 |
Closest metre | Iambic hexameter |
Characters | 1,600 |
Words | 299 |
Sentences | 19 |
Stanzas | 8 |
Stanza Lengths | 3, 4, 4, 4, 4, 4, 4, 4 |
Lines Amount | 31 |
Letters per line (avg) | 41 |
Words per line (avg) | 9 |
Letters per stanza (avg) | 159 |
Words per stanza (avg) | 37 |
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Submitted on May 13, 2011
Modified on March 05, 2023
- 1:30 min read
- 64 Views
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"Jefferson's Daughter" Poetry.com. STANDS4 LLC, 2024. Web. 12 Jun 2024. <https://www.poetry.com/poem-analysis/3411/jefferson%27s-daughter>.
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