Classic and Contemporary Poetry
ALBUM VERSES, by JOHN GREENLEAF WHITTIER Poet Analysis Poet's Biography First Line: Pardon a stranger hand that gives Last Line: His boast shall be of yankee land. | ||||||||
PARDON a stranger hand that gives Its impress to these gilded leaves. As one who graves in idle mood An idler's name on rock or wood, So in a careless hour I claim A page to leave my humble name. Accept it; and when o'er my head A Pennsylvanian sky is spread, And but in dreams my eye looks back On broad and lovely Merrimac, And on my ear no longer breaks The murmuring music which it makes, When but in dreams I look again On Salisbury beach -- Grasshopper plain -- Or Powow stream -- or Amesbury mills, Or old Crane neck, or Pipestave hills, Think of the then as one who keeps, Where Delaware's broad current sweeps, And down its rugged limestone-bed The Schuylkill's arrowy flight is sped, Deep in his heart the scenes which grace And glorify his "native place;" Loves every spot to childhood dear, And leaves his heart "untravelled" here; Longs, midst the Dutchman's kraut and greens, For pumpkin-pie and pork and beans, And sighs to think when, sweetly near, The soft piano greets his ear, That the fair hands which, small and white, Glance on its ivory polished light, Have ne'er an Indian pudding made, Nor fashioned rye and Indian bread. And oh! where'er his footsteps turn, Whatever stars above him burn, Though dwelling where a Yankee's name Is coupled with reproach or shame, Still true to his New England birth, Still faithful to his home and hearth, Even 'midst the scornful stranger band His boast shall be of YANKEE LAND. | Discover our Poem Explanations and Poet Analyses!Other Poems of Interest...AN AUTOGRAPH (1) by JOHN GREENLEAF WHITTIER ASTRAEA by JOHN GREENLEAF WHITTIER AT LAST by JOHN GREENLEAF WHITTIER AT PORT ROYAL by JOHN GREENLEAF WHITTIER BARBARA FRIETCHIE [SEPTEMBER 13, 1862] by JOHN GREENLEAF WHITTIER BARCLAY OF URY by JOHN GREENLEAF WHITTIER BENEDICITE by JOHN GREENLEAF WHITTIER BROWN OF OSSAWATOMIE [DECEMBER 2, 1859] by JOHN GREENLEAF WHITTIER BURNS by JOHN GREENLEAF WHITTIER CASSANDRA SOUTHWICK; 1658 by JOHN GREENLEAF WHITTIER |
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