Poems

Poems List

Explore poems from our collection

John Greenleaf Whittier
John Greenleaf Whittier

The Library

The Library

'Let there be light!' God spake of old,
And over chaos dark and cold,
And through the dead and formless frame
Of nature, life…

778
John Greenleaf Whittier
John Greenleaf Whittier

The Laurels

The Laurels

FROM these wild rocks I look to-day
O'er leagues of dancing waves, and see
The far, low coast-line stretch away
To where our …

391
John Greenleaf Whittier
John Greenleaf Whittier

The Last Eve Of Summer

The Last Eve Of Summer

Summer's last sun nigh unto setting shines
Through yon columnar pines,
And on the deepening shadows of the lawn
It…

237
John Greenleaf Whittier
John Greenleaf Whittier

The Lakeside

The Lakeside

The shadows round the inland sea
Are deepening into night;
Slow up the slopes of Ossipee
They chase the lessening light.

296
John Greenleaf Whittier
John Greenleaf Whittier

The King's Missive

The King's Missive

UNDER the great hill sloping bare
To cove and meadow and Common lot,
In his council chamber and oaken chair,
Sat the w…

276
John Greenleaf Whittier
John Greenleaf Whittier

The Kansas Emigrants

The Kansas Emigrants

THE KANSAS EMIGRANTS.
WE cross the prairie as of old
The pilgrims crossed the sea,
To make the West, as they the Eas…

287
John Greenleaf Whittier
John Greenleaf Whittier

The Hunters Of Men

The Hunters Of Men

HAVE ye heard of our hunting, o'er mountain and glen,
Through cane-brake and forest, — the hunting of men?
The lords of our la…

305
John Greenleaf Whittier
John Greenleaf Whittier

The Inward Judge

The Inward Judge

From Institutes of Manu.

The soul itself its awful witness is.
Say not in evil doing, 'No one sees,'
And so offe…

399
John Greenleaf Whittier
John Greenleaf Whittier

The Hive At Gettysburg

The Hive At Gettysburg

IN the old Hebrew myth the lion's frame,
So terrible alive,
Bleached by the desert's sun and wind, became
The wand…

269
John Greenleaf Whittier
John Greenleaf Whittier

The Homestead

The Homestead

AGAINST the wooded hills it stands,
Ghost of a dead home, staring through
Its broken lights on wasted lands
Where old-time …

229
John Greenleaf Whittier
John Greenleaf Whittier

The Henchman

The Henchman

My lady walks her morning round,
My lady's page her fleet greyhound,
My lady's hair the fond winds stir,
And all the birds m…

229
John Greenleaf Whittier
John Greenleaf Whittier

The Hero

The Hero

'O for a knight like Bayard,
Without reproach or fear;
My light glove on his casque of steel,
My love-knot on his spear!

249
John Greenleaf Whittier
John Greenleaf Whittier

The Golden Wedding Of Longwood

The Golden Wedding Of Longwood

With fifty years between you and your well-kept wedding vow,
The Golden Age, old friends of mine, is not a fable now.

291
John Greenleaf Whittier
John Greenleaf Whittier

The Haschish

The Haschish

Of all that Orient lands can vaunt
Of marvels with our own competing,
The strangest is the Haschish plant,
And what will fol…

315
John Greenleaf Whittier
John Greenleaf Whittier

The Garrison of Cape Ann

The Garrison of Cape Ann

From the hills of home forth looking, far beneath the tent-like span
Of the sky, I see the white gleam of the headland of Cape A…

259
John Greenleaf Whittier
John Greenleaf Whittier

The Funeral Tree of the Sokokis. 1756

The Funeral Tree of the Sokokis. 1756

Around Sebago's lonely lake
There lingers not a breeze to break
The mirror which its waters make.
<…

255
John Greenleaf Whittier
John Greenleaf Whittier

The Freed Islands

The Freed Islands

A FEW brief years have passed away
Since Britain drove her million slaves
Beneath the tropic's fiery ray:
God willed th…

334
John Greenleaf Whittier
John Greenleaf Whittier

The Frost Spirit

The Frost Spirit

He comes, - he comes, - the Frost Spirit comes!
You may trace his footsteps now
On the naked woods and the blasted fields

304
John Greenleaf Whittier
John Greenleaf Whittier

The Female Martyr

The Female Martyr

'BRING out your dead!' The midnight street
Heard and gave back the hoarse, low call;
Harsh fell the tread of hasty feet,

256
John Greenleaf Whittier
John Greenleaf Whittier

The Fishermen

The Fishermen

HURRAH! the seaward breezes
Sweep down the bay amain;
Heave up, my lads, the anchor!
Run up the sail again!
Leave t…

293
John Greenleaf Whittier
John Greenleaf Whittier

The Exiles. 1660

The Exiles. 1660

The goodman sat beside his door
One sultry afternoon,
With his young wife singing at his side
An old and goodly tune.

302
John Greenleaf Whittier
John Greenleaf Whittier

The Farewell

The Farewell

Of A Virginia Slave Mother To Her Daughters Sold Into Southern Bondage

Gone, gone, -- sold and gone
To the rice-swamp dank…

405
John Greenleaf Whittier
John Greenleaf Whittier

The Eternal Goodness

The Eternal Goodness

O Friends! with whom my feet have trod
The quiet aisles of prayer,
Glad witness to your zeal for God
And love of man…

344
John Greenleaf Whittier
John Greenleaf Whittier

The Drovers

The Drovers

THROUGH heat and cold, and shower and sun,
Still onward cheerly driving!
There's life alone in duty done,
And rest alone in s…

320