PoemsGeorge Nichols, 1848 - 184 pages |
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Page 8
... turn back to other destinies , For one sincere key opes all Fortune's doors ; But whoso answers not God's earliest call Forfeits or dulls that faculty supreme Of lying open to his genius Which makes the wise heart certain of its ends ...
... turn back to other destinies , For one sincere key opes all Fortune's doors ; But whoso answers not God's earliest call Forfeits or dulls that faculty supreme Of lying open to his genius Which makes the wise heart certain of its ends ...
Page 57
... turn the iron helm of fate , But the soul is still oracular ; amid the market's din , List the ominous stern whisper from the Delphic cave within , " They enslave their children's children who make com- promise with sin . " Slavery ...
... turn the iron helm of fate , But the soul is still oracular ; amid the market's din , List the ominous stern whisper from the Delphic cave within , " They enslave their children's children who make com- promise with sin . " Slavery ...
Page 59
... turns not back , • And these mounts of anguish number how each genera- tion learned One new word of that grand Credo which in prophet- hearts hath burned Since the first man stood God - conquered with his face to heaven upturned . For ...
... turns not back , • And these mounts of anguish number how each genera- tion learned One new word of that grand Credo which in prophet- hearts hath burned Since the first man stood God - conquered with his face to heaven upturned . For ...
Page 60
... ; Was the Mayflower launched by cowards , steered by men behind their time ? Turn those tracks toward Past or Future , that make Plymouth rock sublime ? They were men of present valor , stalwart old icono- 60 THE PRESENT CRISIS .
... ; Was the Mayflower launched by cowards , steered by men behind their time ? Turn those tracks toward Past or Future , that make Plymouth rock sublime ? They were men of present valor , stalwart old icono- 60 THE PRESENT CRISIS .
Page 65
... turns leaden and harsh , You can hear the quick heart of the tempest beat . Look ! look ! that livid flash ! And instantly follows the rattling thunder , As if some cloud - crag , split asunder , Fell , splintering with a ruinous crash ...
... turns leaden and harsh , You can hear the quick heart of the tempest beat . Look ! look ! that livid flash ! And instantly follows the rattling thunder , As if some cloud - crag , split asunder , Fell , splintering with a ruinous crash ...
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Common terms and phrases
angel beneath bird bleak blood bloodhounds boughs burn CHANGELING cloud crown dark dear Death deep doth dream drop Dryad dumb dust earth epitaph eyes faith fall feel feet Future's Ganymede gleam gloom glow God's gold golden gray green grew Gropes hands happy hath hear heart heaven Hebe hope Hunger and Cold hush JAMES RUSSELL LOWELL knee land lean leaps leaves legends life's light lone look man's marshes Mayflower morning morning-glory naught neath never night o'er palpitate Pilgrims pine Plymouth rock poor postern prophet rain red sea round sachem sedge seems shadow shut side sight silence sing slave slavery smiles snows song sorrow soul spirit stand stern storm stretch sunshine tears thee thine thou thought thrill throne thy branches toil tower tree tremble tremulous Truth twixt Vinland wander waves wind winter wood
Popular passages
Page 118 - DANDELION. DEAR common flower, that grow'st beside the way, Fringing the dusty road with harmless gold, First pledge of blithesome May, Which children pluck, and, full of pride uphold, High-hearted buccaneers, o'erjoyed that they An Eldorado in the grass have found, Which not the rich earth's ample round May match in wealth, thou art more dear to me Than all the prouder summer-blooms may be.
Page 62 - New occasions teach new duties ; Time makes ancient good uncouth ; They must upward still, and onward, who would keep abreast of Truth ; Lo, before us gleam her camp-fires ! we ourselves must Pilgrims be, Launch our Mayflower, and steer boldly through the desperate winter sea, Nor attempt the Future's portal with the Past's blood-rusted key.
Page 120 - My childhood's earliest thoughts are linked with thee ; The sight of thee calls back the robin's song, Who, from the dark old tree Beside the door, sang clearly all day long, And I, secure in childish piety, Listened as if I heard an angel sing With news from heaven, which he could bring Fresh every day to my untainted ears When birds and flowers and I were happy peers.
Page 55 - Once to every man and nation comes the moment to decide, In the strife of Truth with Falsehood, for the good or evil side...
Page 60 - For Humanity sweeps onward : where to-day the martyr stands, On the morrow crouches Judas with the silver in his hands ; Far in front the cross stands ready and the crackling fagots burn, While the hooting mob of yesterday in silent awe return To glean up the scattered ashes into History's golden urn.
Page 54 - Freedom, through the broad earth's aching breast Runs a thrill of joy prophetic, trembling on from east to west, And the slave, where'er he cowers, feels the soul within him climb To the awful verge of manhood, as the energy sublime Of a century bursts full-blossomed on the thorny stem of Time. / Through the walls of hut and palace shoots the instantaneous throe, When the travail of the Ages wrings earth's systems to and fro; At the birth of each new Era, with a recognizing start, Nation wildly looks...
Page 58 - Then to side with Truth is noble when we share her wretched crust, Ere her cause bring fame and profit, and 'tis prosperous to be just; Then it is the brave man chooses, while the coward stands aside, Doubting in his abject spirit, till his Lord is crucified, And the multitude make virtue of the faith they had denied.
Page 61 - Rock sublime? They were men of present valor, stalwart old iconoclasts, Unconvinced by axe or gibbet that all virtue was the Past's; But we make their truth our falsehood, thinking that hath made us free, Hoarding it in mouldy parchments, while our tender spirits flee The rude grasp of that great Impulse which drove them across the sea.
Page 15 - Endurance is the crowning quality, And patience all the passion of great hearts ; These are their stay, and when the leaden world Sets its hard face against their fateful thought, And brute strength, like a scornful...
Page 118 - ... way, Fringing the dusty road with harmless gold, First pledge of blithesome May, Which children pluck, and, full of pride, uphold, High-hearted buccaneers, o'erjoyed that they An Eldorado in the grass have found, Which not the rich earth's ample round May match in wealth, thou art more dear to me Than all the prouder summer-blooms may be. Gold such as thine ne'er drew the Spanish prow Through the primeval hush of Indian seas...