Classic and Contemporary Poetry
HOLYOKE VALLEY, by EDMUND CLARENCE STEDMAN Poet Analysis Poet's Biography First Line: How many years have made their flight Last Line: Like me to mourn their glory fled. Subject(s): Northampton, Massachusetts | ||||||||
HOW many years have made their flights, Northampton, over thee and me, Since last I scaled those purple heights That guard the pathway to the sea; Or climbed, as now, the topmost crown Of western ridges, whence again I see, for miles beyond the town, That sunlit stream divide the plain? There still the giant warders stand And watch the current's downward flow, And northward still, with threatening hand, The river bends his ancient bow. I see the hazy lowlands meet The sky, and count each shining spire, From those which sparkle at my feet To distant steeples tipt with fire. For still, old town, thou art the same: The redbreasts sing their choral tune, Within thy mantling elms aflame, As in that other, dearer June, When here my footsteps entered first, And summer perfect beauty wore, And all thy charms upon me burst, While Life's whole journey lay before. Here every fragrant walk remains, Where happy maidens come and go, And students saunter in the lanes And hum the songs I used to know. I gaze, yet find myself alone, And walk with solitary feet: How strange these wonted ways have grown! Where are the friends I used to meet? In yonder shaded Academe The rippling metres flow to-day, But other boys at sunset dream Of love, and laurels far away; And ah! from yonder trellised home, Less sweet the faces are that peer Than those of old, and voices come Less musically to my ear. Sigh not, ye breezy elms, but give The murmur of my sweetheart's vows, When Life was something worth to live, And Love was young beneath your boughs! Fade beauty, smiling everywhere, That can from year to year outlast Those charms a thousand times more fair, And, oh, our joys so quickly past! Or smile to gladden fresher hearts Henceforth: but they shall yet be led, Revisiting these ancient parts, Like me to mourn their glory fled. | Discover our Poem Explanations and Poet Analyses!Other Poems of Interest...A MOTHER'S PICTURE by EDMUND CLARENCE STEDMAN BETROTHED ANEW by EDMUND CLARENCE STEDMAN FALSTAFF'S SONG by EDMUND CLARENCE STEDMAN HYMN OF THE WEST by EDMUND CLARENCE STEDMAN JOHN BROWN OF OSAWATOMIE [OCTOBER 16, 1859] by EDMUND CLARENCE STEDMAN KEARNY AT SEVEN PINES [MAY 31, 1862] by EDMUND CLARENCE STEDMAN PAN IN WALL STREET by EDMUND CLARENCE STEDMAN PETER STUYVESANT'S NEW YEAR'S CALL, 1 JAN. 1661 by EDMUND CLARENCE STEDMAN SUMTER [APRIL 12, 1861] by EDMUND CLARENCE STEDMAN THE HAND OF LINCOLN by EDMUND CLARENCE STEDMAN |
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