Classic and Contemporary Poetry
THE SHIP OF STATE; A SENTIMENT, by OLIVER WENDELL HOLMES Poet Analysis Poet's Biography First Line: The ship of state! Above her skies are blue Last Line: And guide the honest hand that holds her wheel! Subject(s): Patriotism | ||||||||
THE Ship of State! above her skies are blue, But still she rocks a little, it is true, And there are passengers whose faces white Show they don't feel as happy as they might; Yet on the whole her crew are quite content, Since its wild fury the typhoon has spent, And willing, if her pilot thinks it best, To head a little nearer south by west. And this they feel: the ship came too near wreck, In the long quarrel for the quarter-deck, Now when she glides serenely on her way, -- The shallows past where dread explosives lay, -- The stiff obstructive's churlish game to try: Let sleeping dogs and still torpedoes lie! And so I give you all the Ship of State; Freedom's last venture is her priceless freight; God speed her, keep her, bless her, while she steers Amid the breakers of unsounded years; Lead her through danger's paths with even keel, And guide the honest hand that holds her wheel! | Discover our Poem Explanations and Poet Analyses!Other Poems of Interest...SHINE, REPUBLIC by ROBINSON JEFFERS NIGHT WITHOUT SLEEP by ROBINSON JEFFERS SEVEN LAMENTS FOR THE WAR-DEAD: 6 by YEHUDA AMICHAI A CAROL FOR THE NEW YEAR by EDWIN MARKHAM A SONG OF VICTORY by EDWIN MARKHAM BROTHERHOOD (1) by EDWIN MARKHAM THE ERRAND IMPERIOUS by EDWIN MARKHAM A BALLAD OF THE BOSTON TEA-PARTY [DECEMBER 16, 1773] by OLIVER WENDELL HOLMES |
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