Poetry Explorer


Classic and Contemporary Poetry


JAMES RUSSELL LOWELL by JOHN GREENLEAF WHITTIER

Poet Analysis

First Line: FROM PUREST WELLS OF ENGLISH UNDEFILED
Last Line: AND MINE OF BATTLE OVERTHREW THEM ALL.
Subject(s): DIPLOMACY AND DIPLOMATS; LOWELL, JAMES RUSSELL (1819-1891); POETRY & POETS;

FROM purest wells of English undefiled
None deeper drank than he, the New World's child,
Who in the language of their farmfields spoke
The wit and wisdom of New England folk,
Shaming a monstrous wrong. The world-wide laugh
Provoked thereby might well have shaken half
The walls of Slavery down, ere yet the ball
And mine of battle overthrew them all.



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