Classic and Contemporary Poetry
MOUNTAIN SONNETS, by PAUL HAMILTON HAYNE Poet Analysis Poet's Biography First Line: Here let me pause by the lone eagle's nest Last Line: To flush and thrill the visionary heart! Subject(s): Blue Ridge Mountains | ||||||||
[Written on one of the Blue Ridge range of Mountains.] HERE let me pause by the lone eagle's nest, And breathe the golden sunlight and sweet air, Which gird and gladden all this region fair With a perpetual benison of rest; Like a grand purpose that some god hath blest, The immemorial mountain seems to rise, Yearning to overtop diviner skies, Though monarch of the pomps of East and West; And pondering here, the genius of the height Quickens my soul as if an angel spake, And I can feel old chains of custom break, And old ambitions start to win the light; A calm resolve born with them, in whose might I thank thee, Heaven! that noble thoughts awake. Here, friend! upon this lofty ledge sit down, And view the beauteous prospect spread below, Around, above us; in the noonday glow How calm the landscape rests! yon distant town, Enwreathed with clouds of foliage like a crown Of rustic honor; the soft, silvery flow Of the clear stream beyond it, and the show Of endless wooded heights, circling the brown Autumnal fields, alive with billowy grain; Say! hast thou ever gazed on aught more fair In Europe, or the Orient? What domain (From India to the sunny slopes of Spain) Hath beauty, wed to grandeur in the air, Blessed with an ampler charm a more benignant reign? The rainbows of the heaven are not more rare, More various and more beautiful to view, Than these rich forest rainbows, dipped in dew Of morn and evening, glimmering everywhere From wooded dell to dark-blue mountain mere; O Autumn! wondrous painter! every hue Of thy immortal pencil is steeped through With essence of divinity; how bare Beside thy coloring the poor shows of Art, Though Art were thrice inspired; in dreams alone (The loftiest dreams wherein the soul takes part) Of jasper pavements, and the sapphire throne Of Heaven, hath such unearthly brightness shone To flush and thrill the visionary heart! | Discover our Poem Explanations and Poet Analyses!Other Poems of Interest...A STORM IN THE DISTANCE (AMONG THE GEORGIAN HILLS) by PAUL HAMILTON HAYNE ASPECTS OF THE PINES by PAUL HAMILTON HAYNE BEYOND THE POTOMAC by PAUL HAMILTON HAYNE CHARLESTON by PAUL HAMILTON HAYNE IN HARBOR by PAUL HAMILTON HAYNE MACDONALD'S RAID - A.D. 1780 by PAUL HAMILTON HAYNE PATIENCE by PAUL HAMILTON HAYNE PRE-EXISTENCE by PAUL HAMILTON HAYNE THE BATTLE OF CHARLESTON HARBOR by PAUL HAMILTON HAYNE THE ROSE AND THORN by PAUL HAMILTON HAYNE VICKSBURG by PAUL HAMILTON HAYNE A BACHELOR-BOOKWORM'S COMPLAINT OF LAST PRESENTIAL ELECTION by PAUL HAMILTON HAYNE |
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