Poems

Poems List

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John Greenleaf Whittier
John Greenleaf Whittier

The Reunion

The Reunion

The gulf of seven and fifty years
We stretch our welcoming hands across;
The distance but a pebble's toss
Between us and our youth appe…

340
John Greenleaf Whittier
John Greenleaf Whittier

The Relic

The Relic

TOKEN Of friendship true and tried,
From one whose fiery heart of youth
With mine has beaten, side by side,
For Liberty and Truth;
…

248
John Greenleaf Whittier
John Greenleaf Whittier

The Quaker Of The Olden Time

The Quaker Of The Olden Time

THE Quaker of the olden time!
How calm and firm and true,
Unspotted by its wrong and crime,
He walked the dark earth t…

311
John Greenleaf Whittier
John Greenleaf Whittier

The Red River Voyageur

The Red River Voyageur

Out and in the river is winding
The links of its long, red chain,
Through belts of dusky pine-land
And gusty leagues of plai…

375
John Greenleaf Whittier
John Greenleaf Whittier

The Proclamation

The Proclamation

SAINT PATRICK, slave to Milcho of the herds
Of Ballymena, wakened with these words:
'Arise, and flee
Out from the land of bondage,…

291
John Greenleaf Whittier
John Greenleaf Whittier

The Pumpkin

The Pumpkin

Oh, greenly and fair in the lands of the sun,
The vines of the gourd and the rich melon run,
And the rock and the tree and the cottage enfold…

290
John Greenleaf Whittier
John Greenleaf Whittier

The Prisoners Of Naples

The Prisoners Of Naples

I HAVE been thinking of the victims bound
In Naples, dying for the lack of air
And sunshine, in their close, damp cells of pain, …

332
John Greenleaf Whittier
John Greenleaf Whittier

The Pressed Gentian

The Pressed Gentian

The time of gifts has come again,
And, on my northern window-pane,
Outlined against the day's brief light,
A Christmas token ha…

267
John Greenleaf Whittier
John Greenleaf Whittier

The Poor Voter On Election Day

The Poor Voter On Election Day

THE proudest now is but my peer,
The highest not more high;
To-day, of all the weary year,
A king of men am I.

218
John Greenleaf Whittier
John Greenleaf Whittier

The Prayer-Seeker

The Prayer-Seeker

Along the aisle where prayer was made,
A woman, all in black arrayed,
Close-veiled, between the kneeling host,
With gliding motio…

330
John Greenleaf Whittier
John Greenleaf Whittier

The Pipes At Lucknow

The Pipes At Lucknow

Pipes of the misty moorlands,
Voice of the glens and hills;
The droning of the torrents,
The treble of the rills!
Not th…

257
John Greenleaf Whittier
John Greenleaf Whittier

The Pennsylvania Pilgrim

The Pennsylvania Pilgrim

Prelude

I sing the Pilgrim of a softer clime
And milder speech than those brave men's who brought
To the ice and iro…

307
John Greenleaf Whittier
John Greenleaf Whittier

The Peace Convention At Brussels

The Peace Convention At Brussels

STILL in thy streets, O Paris! doth the stain
Of blood defy the cleansing autumn rain;
Still breaks the smoke Messina's …

306
John Greenleaf Whittier
John Greenleaf Whittier

The Pastoral Letter

The Pastoral Letter

So, this is all, — the utmost reach
Of priestly power the mind to fetter!
When laymen think, when women preach,
A war of words,…

336
John Greenleaf Whittier
John Greenleaf Whittier

The Palatine

The Palatine

Leagues north, as fly the gull and auk,
Point Judith watches with eye of hawk;
Leagues south, thy beacon flames, Montauk!


…

337
John Greenleaf Whittier
John Greenleaf Whittier

The Panorama

The Panorama

' A! fredome is a nobill thing!
Fredome mayse man to haif liking.
Fredome all solace to man giffis;
He levys at ese that frely levys! …

241
John Greenleaf Whittier
John Greenleaf Whittier

The Over-Heart

The Over-Heart

Above, below, in sky and sod,
In leaf and spar, in star and man,
Well might the wise Athenian scan
The geometric signs of God,

306
John Greenleaf Whittier
John Greenleaf Whittier

The Norsemen ( From Narrative and Legendary Poems )

The Norsemen ( From Narrative and Legendary Poems )

.

GIFT from the cold and silent Past!
A relic to the present cast,
Left on the ever-chang…

312
John Greenleaf Whittier
John Greenleaf Whittier

The New Wife and the Old

The New Wife and the Old

Dark the halls, and cold the feast,
Gone the bridemaids, gone the priest.
All is over, all is done,
Twain of yesterday are…

229
John Greenleaf Whittier
John Greenleaf Whittier

The Mystic’s Christmas

The Mystic’s Christmas

'All hail!' the bells of Christmas rang,
'All hail!' the monks at Christmas sang,
The merry monks who kept with cheer
The gl…

302
John Greenleaf Whittier
John Greenleaf Whittier

The Minister’s Daughter

The Minister’s Daughter

In the minister's morning sermon
He had told of the primal fall,
And how thenceforth the wrath of God
Rested on each and al…

285
John Greenleaf Whittier
John Greenleaf Whittier

The Men Of Old

The Men Of Old

WELL speed thy mission, bold Iconoclast!
Yet all unworthy of its trust thou art,
If, with dry eye, and cold, unloving heart,
Thou tr…

289
John Greenleaf Whittier
John Greenleaf Whittier

The Meeting

The Meeting

The elder folks shook hands at last,
Down seat by seat the signal passed.
To simple ways like ours unused,
Half solemnized and half amu…

329
John Greenleaf Whittier
John Greenleaf Whittier

The Mantle Of St. John De Matha. A Legend Of

The Mantle Of St. John De Matha. A Legend Of

A STRONG and mighty Angel,
Calm, terrible, and bright,
The cross in blended red and blue
Upon his mant…

288