Poems

Poems List

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John Greenleaf Whittier
John Greenleaf Whittier

For An Autumn festival

For An Autumn festival

The Persian's flowery gifts, the shrine
Of fruitful Ceres, charm no more;
The woven wreaths of oak and pine
Are dust along t…

324
John Greenleaf Whittier
John Greenleaf Whittier

Forgiveness

Forgiveness


My heart was heavy, for its trust had been
Abused, its kindness answered with foul wrong;
So, turning gloomily from my fellow-men,

353
John Greenleaf Whittier
John Greenleaf Whittier

Fitz-Greene Halleck

Fitz-Greene Halleck

AT THE UNVEILING OF HIS STATUE.

Among their graven shapes to whom
Thy civic wreaths belong,
O city of his love, make room…

343
John Greenleaf Whittier
John Greenleaf Whittier

Ezekiel

Ezekiel


They hear Thee not, O God! nor see;
Beneath Thy rod they mock at Thee;
The princes of our ancient line
Lie drunken with Assyrian wine…

349
John Greenleaf Whittier
John Greenleaf Whittier

Elliott

Elliott


Hands off! thou tithe-fat plunderer! play
No trick of priestcraft here!
Back, puny lordling! darest thou lay
A hand on Elliott's bier…

268
John Greenleaf Whittier
John Greenleaf Whittier

Expostulation

Expostulation


OUR fellow-countrymen in chains!
Slaves, in a land of light and law!
Slaves, crouching on the very plains
Where rolled the stor…

326
John Greenleaf Whittier
John Greenleaf Whittier

Dedication - Songs of Labor

Dedication - Songs of Labor

I WOULD the gift I offer here
Might graces from thy favor take,
And, seen through Friendship's atmosphere,
On softened …

264
John Greenleaf Whittier
John Greenleaf Whittier

Divine Compassion

Divine Compassion

Long since, a dream of heaven I had,
And still the vision haunts me oft;
I see the saints in white robes clad,
The martyrs with t…

342
John Greenleaf Whittier
John Greenleaf Whittier

Conduct

Conduct


From the Mahabharata.

Heed how thou livest. Do no act by day
Which from the night shall drive thy peace away.
In months of sun …

410
John Greenleaf Whittier
John Greenleaf Whittier

Daniel Neall

Daniel Neall

I.
FRIENDof the Slave, and yet the friend of all;
Lover of peace, yet ever foremost when
The need of battling Freedom called for men <…

300
John Greenleaf Whittier
John Greenleaf Whittier

Chicago

Chicago


Men said at vespers: 'All is well!'
In one wild night the city fell;
Fell shrines of prayer and marts of gain
Before the fiery hurric…

284
John Greenleaf Whittier
John Greenleaf Whittier

Clerical Oppressors

Clerical Oppressors

JUST God! and these are they
Who minister at thine altar, God of Right!
Men who their hands with prayer and blessing lay
On Isr…

321
John Greenleaf Whittier
John Greenleaf Whittier

Cassandra Southwick

Cassandra Southwick

To the God of all sure mercies let my blessing rise today,
From the scoffer and the cruel He hath plucked the spoil away;
Yes, he who…

394
John Greenleaf Whittier
John Greenleaf Whittier

Chalkey Hall

Chalkey Hall

How bland and sweet the greeting of this breeze
To him who flies
From crowded street and red wall's weary gleam,
Till far behind him l…

322
John Greenleaf Whittier
John Greenleaf Whittier

By Their Works

By Their Works

Call him not heretic whose works attest
His faith in goodness by no creed confessed.
Whatever in love's name is truly done
To free t…

269
John Greenleaf Whittier
John Greenleaf Whittier

Burning Drift-Wood

Burning Drift-Wood

Before my drift-wood fire I sit,
And see, with every waif I burn,
Old dreams and fancies coloring it,
And folly's unlaid ghosts …

342
John Greenleaf Whittier
John Greenleaf Whittier

Bryant On His Birthday

Bryant On His Birthday

We praise not now the poet's art,
The rounded beauty of his song;
Who weighs him from his life apart
Must do his nobler natu…

343
John Greenleaf Whittier
John Greenleaf Whittier

Birchbrook Mill

Birchbrook Mill

A NOTELESS stream, the Birchbrook runs
Beneath its leaning trees;
That low, soft ripple is its own,
That dull roar is the sea's.

312
John Greenleaf Whittier
John Greenleaf Whittier

Barclay Of Ury

Barclay Of Ury

Up the streets of Aberdeen,
By the kirk and college green,
Rode the Laird of Ury;
Close behind him, close beside,
Foul of mout…

267
John Greenleaf Whittier
John Greenleaf Whittier

Benedicite

Benedicite


God's love and peace be with thee, where
Soe'er this soft autumnal air
Lifts the dark tresses of thy hair.


Whether thr…

330
John Greenleaf Whittier
John Greenleaf Whittier

Banished from Massachusetts

Banished from Massachusetts

Over the threshold of his pleasant home
Set in green clearings passed the exiled Friend,
In simple trust, misdoubting not the…

341
John Greenleaf Whittier
John Greenleaf Whittier

At Washington

At Washington

WITH a cold and wintry noon-light.
On its roofs and steeples shed,
Shadows weaving with t e sunlight
From the gray sky overhead,

329
John Greenleaf Whittier
John Greenleaf Whittier

At Port Royal

At Port Royal

The tent-lights glimmer on the land,
The ship-lights on the sea;
The night-wind smooths with drifting sand
Our track on lone Tybee. <…

229
John Greenleaf Whittier
John Greenleaf Whittier

At Eventide

At Eventide

Poor and inadequate the shadow-play
Of gain and loss, of waking and of dream,
Against life's solemn background needs must seem
At this …

294