Arise! Ye Sons of Honest Toil!
Arise! ye sons of honest toil;
Arise! arise! arise!
Ye free-born tillers of the soil,
Arise! arise! arise!
Come from the workshop and the field,
Prepared to conquer, not to yield,
The ballot-box your sword and shield—
Arise! arise! arise!
Since he must sow who fain would reap,
Arise! arise! arise!
Let cowards fail, let sluggards sleep—
Arise, ye free! arise!
Lo! in the West how broad and grand
The empires of the future stand!
Shall Slavery snatch them from your hand?
Arise! arise! arise!
By all the hopes that round you throng,
Arise! arise! arise!
By all your hatred of the wrong,
Arise! arise! arise!
By all your memories of the time
When right was might, and wrong was crime;
By all that makes your lives sublime,
Arise! arise! arise!
The spirits of your fathers call—
Arise! arise! arise!
There’s room for all and work for all—
Arise! arise! arise!
Come up at Liberty’s behest,
From North and South, from East and West,
And do, for truth and right, your best—
Arise! arise! arise!
- Title
- Arise! Ye Sons of Honest Toil!
- First Line
- Arise! ye sons of honest toil
- Creator
-
William Henry Burleigh
- Bibliographic Citation
- Burleigh, William Henry, ed. Republican Campaign Songster, for 1860. New York: H. Dayton, 1860, 24-25.
- Date
- 1860
- Period
- Late
- Comments
- The ethos of strength through moral righteousness is strongly expressed here
- Related Resource
- William Burleigh wrote two sonnets for Abraham Lincoln, one during his presidency and the other on the fifth anniversary of his assassination.
-
Sonnet (A.L.)
- Rating
- ★★★
