O, DOUBTLESS ye can trample and enchain, Sow wrath and breathe out winter; but can ye Persuade the muttering bondsman he is free, Or with a signal build the summer again? O, ye can hold the rivulets of the plain A little while from nuptials with the sea, But the fierce mountain-stream of Liberty Not edicts and not hosts may long restrain. For this is of the heights and of the deeps, Born of the heights and in the deeps conceived. This, from the lofty places of the mind, Gushes pellucid, vehemently upheaved; And tears and heart's blood hallow it, as it sweeps Invincibly on, with Might no Might can bind. | Discover our Poem Explanations and Poet Analyses!Other Poems of Interest...SPOON RIVER ANTHOLOGY: MANY SOLDIERS by EDGAR LEE MASTERS SONNET (ON AN OLD BOOK WITH UNCUT LEAVES) by PAUL LAURENCE DUNBAR THE WORLD by FREDERICK WILLIAM FABER OF THE DAY ESTIVALL by ALEXANDER HUME THE RAINY SUMMER by ALICE MEYNELL THE VIRGINIANS OF THE VALLEY by FRANCIS ORRERY TICKNOR ROBERT BURNS by WILLIAM ALEXANDER (1567-1640) SONNETS FROM THE PORTUGUESE: 2 by ELIZABETH BARRETT BROWNING |