Classic and Contemporary Poetry
THE ISLAND HUNTING-SONG, by OLIVER WENDELL HOLMES Poet Analysis Poet's Biography First Line: No more the summer floweret charms Last Line: Your noble robin hood. Subject(s): Islands | ||||||||
NO more the summer floweret charms, The leaves will soon be sere, And Autumn folds his jewelled arms Around the dying year; So, ere the waning seasons claim Our leafless groves awhile, With golden wine and glowing flame We'll crown our lonely isle. Once more the merry voices sound Within the antlered hall, And long and loud the baying hounds Return the hunter's call; And through the woods, and o'er the hill, And far along the bay, The driver's horn is sounding shrill, -- Up, sportsmen, and away! No bars of steel or walls of stone Our little empire bound, But, circling with his azure zone, The sea runs foaming round; The whitening wave, the purpled skies, The blue and lifted shore, Braid with their dim and blending dyes Our wide horizon o'er. And who will leave the grave debate That shakes the smoky town, To rule amid our island-state, And wear our oak-leaf crown? And who will be awhile content To hunt our woodland game, And leave the vulgar pack that scent The reeking track of fame? Ah, who that shares in toils like these Will sigh not to prolong Our days beneath the broad-leaved trees, Our nights of mirth and song? Then leave the dust of noisy streets, Ye outlaws of the wood, And follow through his green retreats Your noble Robin Hood. | Discover our Poem Explanations and Poet Analyses!Other Poems of Interest...DECEPTION PASS; FOR JUDY AND MARK KAWASAKI by KAREN SWENSON ON THIS ISLAND by WYSTAN HUGH AUDEN GLADYS AND HER ISLAND; AN IMPERFECT TALE WITH DOUBTFUL MORAL by JEAN INGELOW RAGGED ISLAND by EDNA ST. VINCENT MILLAY SEALS AT HIGH ISLAND by RICHARD MURPHY THE LAKE ISLE OF INNISFREE by WILLIAM BUTLER YEATS SHADOWS by WILLIAM HERVEY ALLEN JR. A BALLAD OF THE BOSTON TEA-PARTY [DECEMBER 16, 1773] by OLIVER WENDELL HOLMES |
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