Classic and Contemporary Poetry
SUMMER RAMBLE, by WILLIAM CULLEN BRYANT Poet Analysis Poet's Biography First Line: A quiet august noon has come Variant Title(s): The Noon Scen | ||||||||
The quiet August noon has come; A slumberous silence fills the sky, The fields are still, the woods are dumb In glassy sleep the waters lie. And mark yon soft white clouds that rest Above our vale, a moveless throng; The cattle on the mountain's breast Enjoy the grateful shadow long. Oh, how unlike those merry hours, In early June, when Earth laughs out, When the fresh winds make love to flowers, And woodlands sing and waters shout. When in the grass sweet voices talk, And strains of tiny music swell From every moss-cup of the rock, From every nameless blossom's bell. But now a joy too deep for sound, A peace no other season knows, Hushes the heavens and wraps the ground, The blessing of supreme repose. Away! I will not be, to-day, The only slave of toil and care, Away from desk and dust! away! I'll be as idle as the air. Beneath the open sky abroad, Among the plants and breathing things, The sinless, peaceful works of God, I'll share the calm the season brings. Come, thou, in whose soft eyes I see The gentle meanings of thy heart, One day amid the woods with me, From men and all their cares apart. And where, upon the meadow's breast, The shadow of the thicket lies, The blue wild-flowers thou gatherest Shall glow yet deeper near thine eyes. Come, and when mid the calm profound, I turn, those gentle eyes to seek, They, like the lovely landscape round, Of innocence and peace shall speak. Rest here, beneath the unmoving shade, And on the silent valleys gaze, Winding and widening, till they fade In yon soft ring of summer haze. The village trees their summits rear Still as its spire, and yonder flock At rest in those calm fields appear As chiselled from the lifeless rock. One tranquil mount the scene o'erlooks There the hushed winds their sabbath keep, While a near hum from bees and brooks Comes faintly like the breath of sleep. Well may the gazer deem that when, Worn with the struggle and the strife, And heart-sick at the wrongs of men, The good forsakes the scene of life; Like this deep quiet that, awhile, Lingers the lovely landscape o'er, Shall be the peace whose holy smile Welcomes him to a happier shore. | Discover our Poem Explanations and Poet Analyses!Other Poems of Interest...A MEDITATION ON RHODE ISLAND COAL by WILLIAM CULLEN BRYANT A WINTER PIECE by WILLIAM CULLEN BRYANT AMERICA (1) by WILLIAM CULLEN BRYANT ANTIQUITY OF FREEDOM by WILLIAM CULLEN BRYANT AUTUMN WOODS by WILLIAM CULLEN BRYANT DANTE by WILLIAM CULLEN BRYANT GREEN RIVER by WILLIAM CULLEN BRYANT HYMN OF THE CITY by WILLIAM CULLEN BRYANT INSCRIPTION FOR THE ENTRANCE TO A WOOD by WILLIAM CULLEN BRYANT JUNE (1) by WILLIAM CULLEN BRYANT MONUMENT MOUNTAIN by WILLIAM CULLEN BRYANT ODE FOR THE BURIAL OF ABRAHAM LINCOLN by WILLIAM CULLEN BRYANT |
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