Prophecies: Prophecy is not only prediction, but also any
inspired discourse or teaching. Compare the following lines from the
poem _Freedom_, written the same year:
"Are we, then, wholly fallen? Can it be
That thou, North wind, that from thy mountains bringest
Their spirit to our plains, and thou, blue sea,
Who on our rocks thy wreaths of freedom flingest,
As on an altar,--can it be that ye
Have wasted inspiration on dead ears,
Dulled with the too familiar clank of chains?"
At the end of this poem Lowell gives his view of "fallen and traitor
lives." He speaks of the "boundless future" of our country--
"Ours if we be strong;
Or if we shrink, better remount our ships
And, fleeing God's express design, trace back
The hero-freighted Mayflower's prophet-track
To Europe entering her blood-red eclipse."
While reading _Sir Launfal_ the fact must be kept in mind that Lowell
was at the time of writing the poem filled with the spirit of freedom
and reform, and was writing fiery articles in prose for the
_Anti-Slavery Standard_, expressing his bitter indignation at the
indifference and lukewarmness of the Northern people on the subject of
slavery.