Analysis of Mare Liberum
Henry Van Dyke 1852 (Germantown, Pennsylvania) – 1933 (Princeton, New Jersey)
You dare to say with perjured lips,
"We fight to make the ocean free"?
You, whose black trail of butchered ships
Bestrews the bed of every sea
Where German submarines have wrought
Their horrors! Have you never thought, --
What you call freedom, men call piracy!
Unnumbered ghosts that haunt the wave
Where you have murdered, cry you down;
And seamen whom you would not save,
Weave now in weed-grown depths a crown
Of shame for your imperious head, --
A dark memorial of the dead, --
Women and children whom you left to drown.
Nay, not till thieves are set to guard
The gold, and corsairs called to keep
O'er peaceful commerce watch and ward,
And wolves to herd the helpless sheep,
Shall men and women look to thee --
Thou ruthless Old Man of the Sea --
To safeguard law and freedom on the deep!
In nobler breeds we put our trust:
The nations in whose sacred lore
The "Ought" stands out above the "Must,"
And Honor rules in peace and war.
With these we hold in soul and heart,
With these we choose our lot and part,
Till Liberty is safe on sea and shore.
Scheme | ABABCCB DEDEFFE XGXGBBG HIHIJJI |
---|---|
Poetic Form | |
Metre | 11111101 11110101 11111101 10111001 1101011 11011101 1111011100 111101 11110111 01011111 11011101 111101001 010100101 1001011111 11111111 0101111 101010101 01110101 11010111 11011101 111010101 010111101 01001101 01110101 01010101 11110101 111110101 1100111101 |
Closest metre | Iambic tetrameter |
Characters | 1,061 |
Words | 201 |
Sentences | 8 |
Stanzas | 4 |
Stanza Lengths | 7, 7, 7, 7 |
Lines Amount | 28 |
Letters per line (avg) | 29 |
Words per line (avg) | 7 |
Letters per stanza (avg) | 204 |
Words per stanza (avg) | 50 |
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Submitted on May 13, 2011
Modified on March 05, 2023
- 1:00 min read
- 108 Views
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"Mare Liberum" Poetry.com. STANDS4 LLC, 2024. Web. 13 May 2024. <https://www.poetry.com/poem-analysis/18350/mare-liberum>.
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