Classic and Contemporary Poetry
FOR THE DEDICATION OF THE NEW CITY LIBRARY, BOSTON, by OLIVER WENDELL HOLMES Poet Analysis Poet's Biography First Line: Proudly, beneath her glittering dome Last Line: The queen, the handmaid of them all! Subject(s): Boston; Librarians & Libraries; Library; Librarians | ||||||||
PROUDLY, beneath her glittering dome, Our three-hilled city greets the morn; Here Freedom found her virgin home, -- The Bethlehem where her babe was born. The lordly roofs of traffic rise A mid the smoke of household fires; High o'er them in the peaceful skies Faith points to heaven her clustering spires. Can Freedom breathe if ignorance reign? Shall Commerce thrive where anarchs rule? Will Faith her half-fledged brood retain If darkening counsels cloud the school? Let in the light! from every age Some gleams of garnered wisdom pour, And, fixed on thought's electric page, Wait all their radiance to restore. Let in the light! in diamond mines Their gems invite the hand that delves; So learning's treasured jewels shine Ranged on the alcove's ordered shelves. From history's scroll the splendor streams, From science leaps the living ray; Flashed from the poet's glowing dreams The opal fires of fancy play. Let in the light! these windowed walls Shall brook no shadowing colonnades, But day shall flood the silent halls Till o'er yon hills the sunset fades. Behind the ever open gate No pikes shall fence a crumbling throne, No lackeys cringe, no courtiers wait, -- This palace is the people's own! Heirs of our narrow-girdled past, How fair the prospect we survey, Where howled unheard the wintry blast And rolled unchecked the storm-swept bay! These chosen precincts, set apart For learned toil and holy shrines, Yield willing homes to every art That trains, or strengthens, or refines. Here shall the sceptred mistress reign Who heeds her meanest subject's call, Sovereign of all their vast domain, The queen, the handmaid of them all! | Discover our Poem Explanations and Poet Analyses!Other Poems of Interest...THE FATHER OF PREDICAMENTS by HEATHER MCHUGH HER MONOLOGUE OF DARK CREPE WITH EDGES OF LIGHT by NORMAN DUBIE LOVE POEM FOR THE FORTY-SECOND STREET LIBRARY by DAVID IGNATOW THE LIBRARIAN by PETER JOHNSON BECAUSE OF LIBRARIES WE CAN SAY THESE THINGS by NAOMI SHIHAB NYE IN THE READING ROOM by DAVID FERRY A BALLAD OF THE BOSTON TEA-PARTY [DECEMBER 16, 1773] by OLIVER WENDELL HOLMES |
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