Classic and Contemporary Poetry
THE ALL-GOLDEN, by JAMES WHITCOMB RILEY Poet Analysis Poet's Biography First Line: Through every happy line I sing Last Line: Of time's all-golden yesterdays! Alternate Author Name(s): Johnson Of Boone, Benj. F. Subject(s): Forests; Singing & Singers; Spring; Woods | ||||||||
I THROUGH every happy line I sing I feel the tonic of the Spring. The day is like an old-time face That gleams across some grassy place -- An old-time face -- an old-time chum Who rises from the grave to come And lure me back along the ways Of time's all-golden yesterdays. Sweet day! to thus remind me of The truant boy I used to love -- To set, once more, his finger-tips Against the blossom of his lips, And pipe for me the signal known By none but him and me alone! II I see, across the schoolroom floor, The shadow of the open door, And dancing dust and sunshine blent Slanting the way the morning went, And beckoning my thoughts afar Where reeds and running waters are; Where amber-colored bayous glass The half-drown'd weeds and wisps of grass, Where sprawling frogs, in loveless key, Sing on and on incessantly. Against the green wood's dim expanse The cattail tilts its tufted lance, While on its tip -- one might declare The white "snake-feeder" blossomed there! III I catch my breath, as children do In woodland swings when life is new, And all the blood is warm as wine And tingles with a tang divine. My soul soars up the atmosphere And sings aloud where God can hear, And all my being leans intent To mark His smiling wonderment. O gracious dream, and gracious time, And gracious theme, and gracious rhyme -- When buds of Spring begin to blow In blossoms that we used to know And lure us back along the ways Of time's all-golden yesterdays! | Discover our Poem Explanations and Poet Analyses!Other Poems of Interest...THE PRINCESS WAKES IN THE WOOD by RANDALL JARRELL CHAMBER MUSIC: 20 by JAMES JOYCE ADVICE TO A FOREST by MAXWELL BODENHEIM A SOUTH CAROLINA FOREST by AMY LOWELL JOY IN THE WOODS by CLAUDE MCKAY IN BLACKWATER WOODS by MARY OLIVER THE PLACE I WANT TO GET BACK TO by MARY OLIVER A BOY'S MOTHER by JAMES WHITCOMB RILEY |
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