Classic and Contemporary Poetry
INVITATION TO THE COUNTRY, by GEORGE MEREDITH Poet Analysis Poet's Biography First Line: Now 'tis spring on wood and wold Last Line: And in the breast of man as well. Subject(s): Country Life; Nature; Seasons; Spring | ||||||||
Now 'tis Spring on wood and wold, Early Spring that shivers with cold, But gladdens, and gathers, day by day, A lovelier hue, a warmer ray, A sweeter song, a dearer ditty; Ouzel and throstle, new-mated and gay, Singing their bridals on every spray -- Oh, hear them, deep in the songless City! Cast off the yoke of toil and smoke, As Spring is casting winter's grey, As serpents cast their skins away: And come, for the Country awaits thee with pity And longs to bathe thee in her delight, And take a new joy in thy kindling sight; And I no less, by day and night, Long for thy coming, and watch for, and wait thee, And wonder what duties can thus belate thee. Dry-fruited firs are dropping their cones, And vista'd avenues of pines Take richer green, give fresher tones, As morn after morn the glad sun shines. Primrose tufts peep over the brooks, Fair faces amid moist decay! The rivulets run with the dead leaves at play, The leafless elms are alive with the rooks. Over the meadows the cowslips are springing, the marshes are thick with king-cup gold, Clear is the cry of the lambs in the fold, The skylark is singing, and singing, and singing. Soon comes the cuckoo when April is fair, And her blue eye the brighter the more it may weep: The frog and the butterfly wake from their sleep, Each to its element, water and air. Mist hangs still on every hill, And curls up the valleys at eve; but noon Is fullest of Spring; and at midnight the moon Gives her westering throne to Orion's bright zone, As he slopes o'er the darkened world's repose; And a lustre in eastern Sirius glows. Come, in the season of opening buds; Come, and molest not the otter that whistles Unlit by the moon, 'mid the wet winter bristles Of willow, half-drowned in the fattening floods. Let him catch his cold fish without fear of a gun, And the stars shall shield him, and thou wilt shun! And every little bird under the sun Shall know that the bounty of Spring doth dwell In the winds that blow, in the waters that run, And in the breast of man as well. | Discover our Poem Explanations and Poet Analyses!Other Poems of Interest...SPRING LEMONADE by TONY HOAGLAND A SPRING SONG by LYMAN WHITNEY ALLEN SPRING'S RETURN by GEORGE LAWRENCE ANDREWS ODE TO SPRING by ANNA LETITIA BARBAULD ODE TO SPRING by ANNA LETITIA BARBAULD SPRING FLOODS by MAURICE BARING SPRING IN WINTER by CHARLOTTE FISKE BATES SPRING ON THE PRAIRIE by HERBERT BATES THE FARMER'S BOY: SPRING by ROBERT BLOOMFIELD DIRGE IN WOODS by GEORGE MEREDITH |
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