Poetry Explorer- Classic Contemporary Poetry, CONTENT, by WILLIAM ELLERY CHANNING (1817-1901)


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First Line: Within the unpainted cottage dwell
Alternate Author Name(s): Channing Ii, William Ellery
Subject(s): Transcendentalism


Within the unpainted cottage dwell
The spirits of serene content,
As clear as from its moss-grown well
Rises the crystal element.
Above, the elm, whose trunk is scarred
With many a dint of stormy weather,
Rises, a sumptuous screen, debarred
Of nothing that links life together.
Our common life may gratify
More feelings than the rarest art,
For nothing can aspire so high
As beatings of the human heart.
O! value then thy daily cheer,
Poor pensioner on nature's store,
And clasp the least, and hold most dear
What seemeth small, and add the more.






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