Shannon 1

Joshua Shannon

Mr. Kozak

AP English Language

12 October 2018

Boston Hymn by Ralph Waldo Emerson

The word of the Lord by night

To the watching Pilgrims came,
As they sat by the sea-side,
And filled their hearts with flame.

God said,—I am tired of kings,

I suffer them no more;
Up to my ear the morning brings
The outrage of the poor.

Think ye I made this ball

A field of havoc and war,
Where tyrants great and tyrants small
Might harry the weak and poor?

My angel,—his name is Freedom,

Choose him to be your king;
He shall cut pathways east and west.
And fend you with his wing.

Lo! I uncover the land

Which I hid of old time in the West,
As the sculptor uncovers his statue,
When he has wrought his best.

I show Columbia, of the rocks

Which dip their foot in the seas
And soar to the air-borne flocks
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Of clouds, and the boreal fleece.

I will divide my goods,

Call in the wretch and slave:
None shall rule but the humble,
And none but Toil shall have.

I will have never a noble,

No lineage counted great:
Fishers and choppers and ploughmen
Shall constitute a State.

Go, cut down trees in the forest,

And trim the straightest boughs;
Cut down trees in the forest,
And build me a wooden house.

Call the people together,

The young men and the sires,
The digger in the harvest-field,
Hireling,and him that hires.

And here in a pine state-house;

They shall choose men to rule
In every needful faculty,
In church, and state, and school.

Lo, now! if these poor men

Can govern the land and sea,
And make just laws below the sun,
As planets faithful be.

And ye shall succor men;

'T is nobleness to serve;
Help them who cannot help again;
Beware from right to swerve.

I break your bonds and masterships,

And I unchain the slave:
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Free be his heart and hand henceforth,

As wind and wandering wave.

I cause from every creature

His proper good to flow:
As much as he is and doeth,
So much he shall bestow.

But, laying hands on another

To coin his labor and sweat,
He goes in pawn to his victim
For eternal years in debt.

Pay ransom to the owner,

And fill the bag to the brim.
Who is the owner? The slave is owner,
And ever was. Pay him.

O North! give him beauty for rags,

And honor, 0 South! for his shame;
Nevada! coin thy golden crags
With Freedom's image and name.

Up! and the dusky race

That sat in darkness long,—
Be swift their feet as antelopes,
And as behemoth strong.,

Come, East, and West, and North,

By races, as snow-flakes,
And carry my purpose forth,
Which neither halts nor shakes.

My will fulfilled shall be,

For, in daylight or in dark,
My thunderbolt has eyes to see
His way home to the mark
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Analysis of Boston Hymn

If you could make your country a better place for everyone, wouldn’t you do it? That was

what Ralph Waldo Emerson was trying to do. The first time you read the poem, you might think

it’s about people coming to America and everything being great, but once you analyze the poem

or even read it a couple of times, you’ll know the poem has a completely different meaning than

what you originally may have thought.

The most important piece of information in this poem is on the fifth line1. After that line,

every word after that is spoken by God.

The poem starts off, with Pilgrims coming to a new land. God then says that there should

not be one person that rules everyone. God asks,

“Think ye I made this ball A field of havoc and war, Where tyrants great and tyrants

small Might harry the weak and poor”,

This is God asking everyone why he created this world if there is war and the poor being

ruled by the rich. This is because God didn’t create the world for people to fight each other and

rule unfairly.

Along comes God’s angel named “Freedom” who is chosen to become king. That angel,

of course, will fight for freedom, fairness and protect the people, “And fend you with his wing.”

“Lo! I uncover the land” this is where God uncovers a new, better land. In this land, only the

humble will rule, not nobles and that regular people will run the government, “Fishers and

choppers and ploughmen Shall constitute a State.” God orders the people to cut down trees in

1
God said,—I am tired of kings,
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forest to build a house and orders them to call everyone together no matter their status, job, or

age. God orders that the people choose someone to rule in all the places including “church, and

state, and school.” Then, in a really fancy way, God states that poor men can govern just as well,

or better than nobles. He then states that leaders will succeed previous leaders2.

God then frees the slaves, “And I unchain the slave.” God then stated that anyone who

used slaves, were forever in that slave’s dept, “For eternal years in debt.” He then says “Pay

ransom to the owner,” and says that the owner is the slave and that the slave always was the

owner meaning that the owner of the slave didn’t actually own in the slave. God then orders the

North and South to come together and treat former slaves as equals. Finally, God asserts that

everything he said and ordered will happen, “My will fulfilled shall be.”

This poem also has a rhyme scheme that you may not notice right off the bat. It has an

ABCB rhyme scheme. As long as you notice the rhyme scheme, it gives the poem more flow and

makes it easier to read. Because of this rhyme scheme, I respect and enjoy the poem a bit more

than if it wasn’t there.

To truly understand this poem, research must be done. I will start with the simplest of

facts. Ralph Waldo Emerson was an American poet. This poem was composed in December

1862. Now that we have this important piece of information, if it wasn’t already obvious, the

poem is about the greatness of America and how slavery is wrong. This is also backed up by the

fact that the American Civil War took place from 1861 to 1865 and that the Civil War was

caused by conflicting views on slavery between the North and South.

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And ye shall succor men
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We can also talk about the name of the poem. Emerson was born, raised, and lived most

of his life in Boston, Massachusetts, which is probably why he used Boston in the name. He used

“Hymn” because it the poem is a religious tribute/praise to what the Pilgrims discovered and will

eventually abolish slavery.

This poem was also a very rushed poem and was read to a crowd of 3,000 people on

January 1, 1863, the day after it was finished. Despite it being rushed, the poem became very

famous and may have helped to abolish slavery.

Although it is obvious that this poem was important around 1862, when slavery wasn’t

fully abolished, is it important today? It’s important today in the same sense that George

Washington is important today. This is a part of American history because it’s a piece of

literature that contributed to the abolition of slavery which is a part of American history. As for

the message that the poem gives, no, that message is not important today. While there is still

human trafficking in the U.S. and other parts of the world, the message of the poem isn’t aimed

at abolishing what’s left of slavery today. I think this poem would be ineffective at trying to get

rid of any slavery that’s still happening today.

The lense that helped me understand the poem the most was formalism. When I applied

this lense to the poem, I looked at every detail of the poem which made me think about what the

poem was really about instead of just reading it once and thinking it’s some mystical riddle. Old

historicism helped greatly as well because while doing research, I learned what the poem was

used for and why it was created. Confirming that the poem was about how slavery was wrong, I

understood it better because of that and I learned that the poem was used to encourage the

abolition of slavery.
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Now to the important part, did I like it? At first, no. Not at all. I chose this poem because

it was long, and was done by an American author. Once I discovered the rhyme scheme, I started

to enjoy it a bit more. I then realized that the poem was being spoken by God and just about

everything in the poem made more sense. Once it made sense, I, for the first time, appreciated

poetry just a little bit. After a few hours of staring at the same poem, I had understood something

that wasn’t created to be understood by my generation which felt a little rewarding, especially for

the amount of time staring the poem down until it decided to give me its knowledge.

Did Emerson reach his goal of making his country a better place? Yes, I think so.

Emerson wrote about something he felt like he needed to correct. Unlike a lot of poems

complaining about love or something, Emerson contributed to the abolition of slavery, something

we can all agree was necessary and the right thing to do. Next time you pick a poem to read or

analyze, pick one that’s trying to change the world for the better instead of one complaining

about something that doesn’t matter.

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Works Cited

History.com, A&E Television Networks,

www.history.com/topics/american-civil-war/american-civil-war-history​.

“Teach Me I Am Forgotten by the Dead.” Poets.org, Academy of American Poets, 7 Oct. 2015,

www.poets.org/poetsorg/poet/ralph-waldo-emerson​.

Revolvy, LLC. “‘Boston Hymn’ on Revolvy.com.” Trivia Quizzes,

www.revolvy.com/topic/Boston%20Hymn​.

Survivor Stories « Free the Slaves,

www.freetheslaves.net/our-model-for-freedom/slavery-today/​.