Classic and Contemporary Poetry
TWO POEMS TO HARRIET BEECHER STOWE: 2. THE WORLD'S HOMAGE, by OLIVER WENDELL HOLMES Poet Analysis Poet's Biography First Line: If every tongue that speaks her praise Last Line: With heaven's own benediction. Subject(s): Stowe, Harriet Beecher (1811-1896) | ||||||||
IF every tongue that speaks her praise For whom I shape my tinkling phrase Were summoned to the table, The vocal chorus that would meet Of mingling accents harsh or sweet, From every land and tribe, would beat The polyglots at Babel. Briton and Frenchman, Swede and Dane, Turk, Spaniard, Tartar of Ukraine, Hidalgo, Cossack, Cadi, High Dutchman and Low Dutchman, too, The Russian serf, the Polish Jew, Arab, Armenian, and Mantchoo, Would shout, "We know the lady!" Know her! Who knows not Uncle Tom And her he learned his gospel from Has never heard of Moses; Full well the brave black hand we know That gave to freedom's grasp the hoe That killed the weed that used to grow Among the Southern roses. When Archimedes, long ago, Spoke out so grandly, "dos pou sto -- Give me a place to stand on, I'll move your planet for you, now," -- He little dreamed or fancied how The sto at last should find its pou For woman's faith to land on. Her lever was the wand of art, Her fulcrum was the human heart, Whence all unfailing aid is; She moved the earth! Its thunders pealed, Its mountains shook, its temples reeled, The blood-red fountains were unsealed, And Moloch sunk to Hades. All through the conflict, up and down Marched Uncle Tom and Old John Brown, One ghost, one form ideal; And which was false and which was true, And which was mightier of the two, The wisest sibyl never knew, For both alike were real. Sister, the holy maid does well Who counts her beads in convent cell, Where pale devotion lingers; But she who serves the sufferer's needs, Whose prayers are spelt in loving deeds, May trust the Lord will count her beads As well as human fingers. When Truth herself was Slavery's slave, Thy hand the prisoned suppliant gave The rainbow wings of fiction. And Truth who soared descends to-day Bearing an angel's wreath away, Its lilies at thy feet to lay With Heaven's own benediction. | Discover our Poem Explanations and Poet Analyses!Other Poems of Interest...HARRIET BEECHER STOWE'S WORKS: 'UNCLE TOM'S CABIN' by FRANK BARBOUR COFFIN LINES ADDRESSED TO MRS. H.B. STOWE ON HER VISIT TO GLASGOW, 1853 by JANET HAMILTON ELIZA HARRIS by FRANCES ELLEN WATKINS HARPER TWO POEMS TO HARRIET BEECHER STOWE: 1. AT THE SUMMIT by OLIVER WENDELL HOLMES THE BEECHER BEACHED by JOHN BANISTER TABB A GREETING; HARRIET BEECHER STOWE'S 70TH ANNIVERSARY by JOHN GREENLEAF WHITTIER HARRIET BEECHER READ LORD BYRON by SAM CORNISH HARRIET BEECHER STOWE: SLAVERY AND THE DOMESTIC LIFE by SAM CORNISH CIVIL WAR IN AMERICA - EXPOSTULATION by JANET HAMILTON A BALLAD OF THE BOSTON TEA-PARTY [DECEMBER 16, 1773] by OLIVER WENDELL HOLMES |
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