| Higginson and Bigelow, comps. American Sonnets. 1891. | | | | William Tell | | By William Cullen Bryant (1794–1878) |
| | | CHAINS may subdue the feeble spirit, but thee, | |
| Tell, of the iron heart! they could not tame! | |
| For thou wert of the mountains; they proclaim | |
| The everlasting creed of liberty. | |
| That creed is written on the untrampled snow, | 5 |
| Thundered by torrents which no power can hold, | |
| Save that of God, when He sends forth His cold, | |
| And breathed by winds that through the free heaven blow. | |
| Thou, while thy prison-walls were dark around, | |
| Didst meditate the lesson Nature taught, | 10 |
| And to thy brief captivity was brought | |
| A vision of thy Switzerland unbound. | |
| The bitter cup they mingled, strengthened thee | |
| For the great work to set thy country free. | | | | |
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