Classic and Contemporary Poetry
GARRISON, by JOHN GREENLEAF WHITTIER Poet Analysis Poet's Biography First Line: The storm and peril overpast Last Line: A hand to set the captive free! Subject(s): Emancipation Movement & Proclamation; Garrison, William Lloyd (1805-1879); Antislavery Movement - United States | ||||||||
THE storm and peril overpast, The hounding hatred shamed and still, Go, soul of freedom! take at last The place which thou alone canst fill. Confirm the lesson taught of old -- Life saved for self is lost, while they Who lose it in His service hold The lease of God's eternal day. Not for thyself, but for the salve Thy words of thunder shook the world; No selfish griefs or hatred gave The strength wherewith thy bolts were hurled. From lips that Sinai's trumpet blew We heard a tender under song; Thy very wrath from pity grew, From love of man thy hate of wrong. Now past and present are as one; The life below is life above; Thy mortal years have but begun Thy immortality of love. With somewhat of thy lofty faith We lay thy outworn garment by, Give death but what belongs to death, And life the life that cannot die! Not for a soul like thine the calm Of selfish ease and joys of sense; But duty, more than crown or palm, Its own exceeding recompense. Go up and on! thy day well done, Its morning promise well fulfilled, Arise to triumphs yet unwon, To holier tasks that God has willed. Go, leave behind thee all that mars The work below of man for man; With the white legions of the stars Do service such as angels can. Wherever wrong shall right deny Or suffering spirits urge their plea, Be thine a voice to smite the lie, A hand to set the captive free! | Discover our Poem Explanations and Poet Analyses!Other Poems of Interest...GARRISON by AMOS BRONSON ALCOTT WENDELL PHILLIPS by AMOS BRONSON ALCOTT THE DEATH OF SLAVERY by WILLIAM CULLEN BRYANT BOSTON HYMN; READ IN MUSIC HALL, JANUARY 1, 1863 by RALPH WALDO EMERSON FIFTY YEARS (1863-1913) by JAMES WELDON JOHNSON WILLIAM LLOYD GARRISON by JAMES RUSSELL LOWELL HENRY WARD BEECHER by CHARLES HENRY PHELPS JOHN BROWN OF OSAWATOMIE [OCTOBER 16, 1859] by EDMUND CLARENCE STEDMAN AMERICA by JAMES MONROE WHITFIELD AMY WENTWORTH; FOR WILLIAM BRADFORD by JOHN GREENLEAF WHITTIER |
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