Classic and Contemporary Poetry
THREE SINGING FRIENDS, by JAMES WHITCOMB RILEY Poet Analysis Poet's Biography First Line: Schoolmaster and songmaster! Last Line: Thou meadow-lark no less than nightingale. Alternate Author Name(s): Johnson Of Boone, Benj. F. Subject(s): Friendship; Love; Singing & Singers | ||||||||
I LEE O. HARRIS SCHOOLMASTER and Songmaster! Memory Enshrines thee with an equal love, for thy Duality of gifts, -- thy pure and high Endowments -- Learning rare, and Poesy. These were as mutual handmaids, serving thee, Throughout all seasons of the years gone by, With all enduring joys 'twixt earth and sky -- In turn shared nobly with thy friends and me. Thus is it that thy clear song, ringing on, Is endless inspiration, fresh and free As the old Mays at verge of June sunshine; And musical as then, at dewy dawn, The robin hailed us, and all twinklingly Our one path wandered under wood and vine. II BENJ. S. PARKER Thy rapt song makes of Earth a realm of light And shadow mystical as some dreamland Arched with unfathomed azure -- vast and grand With splendor of the morn; or dazzling bright With orient noon; or strewn with stars of night Thick as the daisies blown in grasses fanned By odorous midsummer breezes and Showered over by all bird-songs exquisite. This is thy voice's beatific art -- To make melodious all things below, Calling through them, from far, diviner space, Thy clearer hail to us. -- The faltering heart Thou cheerest; and thy fellow mortal so Fares onward under Heaven with lifted face. III JAMES NEWTON MATTHEWS Bard of our Western world! -- its prairies wide, With edging woods, lost creeks and hidden ways; Its isolated farms, with roundelays Of orchard warblers heard on every side; Its cross-road schoolhouse, wherein still abide Thy fondest memories, -- since there thy gaze First fell on classic verse; and thou, in praise Of that, didst find thine own song glorified. So singing, smite the strings and counterchange The lucently melodious drippings of Thy happy harp, from airs of "Tempe Vale," To chirp and trill of lowliest flight and range, In praise of our To-day and home and love -- Thou meadow-lark no less than nightingale. | Discover our Poem Explanations and Poet Analyses!Other Poems of Interest...THE APOLLO TRIO by CONRAD AIKEN BAD GIRL SINGING by MARK JARMAN CHAMBER MUSIC: 4 by JAMES JOYCE CHAMBER MUSIC: 5 by JAMES JOYCE CHAMBER MUSIC: 28 by JAMES JOYCE THE SONG OF THE NIGHTINGALE IS LIKE THE SCENT OF SYRINGA by MINA LOY A BOY'S MOTHER by JAMES WHITCOMB RILEY |
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