Get out the microscope, because we’re going through this poem
line-by-line. 'Twas mercy brought me from my Pagan land, Taught
my benighted soul to understand - What in the world is "'Twas"?
The night before Christmas? Not exactly. It's like saying "it
was." So why does that matter? Well, for a few reasons. One
reason is that it dates the poem. This was written in the late
1700s. So, you know, it's old. Our speaker is writing in the
vernacular of her day. - The second reason is formal. Yup, we're
gonna get technical right off the bat! This is only the first
line of the poem, but it's obviously written in iambic
pentameter. (For more on this, check out "Form and Meter.") We
don't know if that'll last throughout the whole poem, but
writing "'twas" makes for only one, unstressed syllable, while
"it was" is two syllables—one stressed and one unstressed—and
that would change the metrical rhythm of the poem. That's a lot
of formal talk for an informal beginning, right? We'll get more
specific in the form and meter s