Analysis of To Ronge
John Greenleaf Whittier 1807 (Haverhill) – 1892 (Hampton Falls)
Strike home, strong-hearted man! Down to the root
Of old oppression sink the Saxon steel.
Thy work is to hew down. In God's name then
Put nerve into thy task. Let other men
Plant, as they may, that better tree whose fruit
The wounded bosom of the Church shall heal.
Be thou the image-breaker. Let thy blows
Fall heavy as the Suabian's iron hand,
On crown or crosier, which shall interpose
Between thee and the weal of Fatherland.
Leave creeds to closet idlers. First of all,
Shake thou all German dream-land with the fall
Of that accursed tree, whose evil trunk
Was spared of old by Erfurt's stalwart monk.
Fight not with ghosts and shadows. Let us hear
The snap of chain-links. Let our gladdened ear
Catch the pale prisoner's welcome, as the light
Follows thy axe-stroke, through his cell of night.
Be faithful to both worlds; nor think to feed
Earth's starving millions with the husks of creed.
Servant of Him whose mission high and holy
Was to the wronged, the sorrowing, and the lowly,
Thrust not his Eden promise from our sphere,
Distant and dim beyond the blue sky's span;
Like him of Patmos, see it, now and here,
The New Jerusalem comes down to man
Be warned by Luther's error. Nor like him,
When the roused Teuton dashes from his limb
The rusted chain of ages, help to bind
His hands for whom thou claim'st the freedom of
the mind
Scheme | ABCCABDEDEFFGGHHIIJJKKLMHMNNOPO |
---|---|
Poetic Form | |
Metre | 1111011101 1101010101 1111110111 1101111101 1111110111 0101010111 1101010111 110101101 11111101 011001110 111101111 1111011101 11111101 111111101 111101111 0111111011 10110010101 1011111111 1101111111 1101010111 10111101010 1101010010 11110101101 1001010111 111111101 0101001111 111110111 101110111 0101110111 11111110101 01 |
Closest metre | Iambic pentameter |
Characters | 1,317 |
Words | 245 |
Sentences | 15 |
Stanzas | 1 |
Stanza Lengths | 31 |
Lines Amount | 31 |
Letters per line (avg) | 34 |
Words per line (avg) | 8 |
Letters per stanza (avg) | 1,050 |
Words per stanza (avg) | 243 |
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Submitted on May 13, 2011
Modified on March 05, 2023
- 1:15 min read
- 42 Views
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"To Ronge" Poetry.com. STANDS4 LLC, 2024. Web. 28 Apr. 2024. <https://www.poetry.com/poem-analysis/23262/to-ronge>.
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