Classic and Contemporary Poetry
JUNE AT WOODRUFF, by JAMES WHITCOMB RILEY Poet Analysis Poet's Biography First Line: Out at woodruff place - afar Last Line: Storied realm, or woodruff place. Alternate Author Name(s): Johnson Of Boone, Benj. F. Subject(s): Life; Muses; Nature | ||||||||
OUT at Woodruff Place -- afar From the city's glare and jar, With the leafy trees, instead Of the awnings, overhead; With the shadows cool and sweet, For the fever of the street; With the silence, like a prayer, Breathing round us everywhere. Gracious anchorage, at last, From the billows of the vast Tide of life that comes and goes, Whence and where nobody knows -- Moving, like a skeptic's thought, Out of nowhere into naught. Touch and tame us with thy grace, Placid calm of Woodruff Place! Weave a wreath of beechen leaves For the brow that throbs and grieves O'er the ledger, bloody-lined, 'Neath the sunstruck window-blind! Send the breath of woodland bloom Through the sick man's prison-room, Till his old farm-home shall swim Sweet in mind to hearten him! Out at Woodruff Place the Muse Dips her sandal in the dews, Sacredly as night and dawn Baptize lilied grove and lawn: Woody path, or paven way -- She doth haunt them night and day, -- Sun or moonlight through the trees, To her eyes, are melodies. Swinging lanterns, twinkling clear Through night-scenes, are songs to her -- Tinted lilts and choiring hues, Blent with children's glad halloos; Then belated lays that fade Into midnight's serenade -- Vine-like words and zithern-strings Twined through all her slumberings. Blessed be each hearthstone set Neighboring the violet! Blessed every roof-tree prayed Over by the beech's shade! Blessed doorway, opening where We may look on Nature -- there Hand to hand and face to face -- Storied realm, or Woodruff Place. | Discover our Poem Explanations and Poet Analyses!Other Poems of Interest...INTERRUPTED MEDITATION by ROBERT HASS TWO VIEWS OF BUSON by ROBERT HASS THE FATALIST: HOME by LYN HEJINIAN WRITING IS AN AID TO MEMORY: 17 by LYN HEJINIAN LET US GATHER IN A FLOURISHING WAY by JUAN FELIPE HERRERA IN MICHAEL ROBINS?ÇÖS CLASS MINUS ONE by HICOK. BOB BREADTH. CIRCLE. DESERT. MONARCH. MONTH. WISDOM by JOHN HOLLANDER VARIATIONS: 16 by CONRAD AIKEN UNHOLY SONNET 13 by MARK JARMAN A BOY'S MOTHER by JAMES WHITCOMB RILEY |
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