Classic and Contemporary Poetry
THE KENNEBEC, by ANONYMOUS First Line: There is a hill o'erlooking norridgewock Last Line: "and o'er the misty river and the meadows / creep slowly, slowly, the long, sombre shadows" Subject(s): "kennebec (river), Maine; | ||||||||
THERE is a hill o'erlooking Norridgewock Whose summit is a crown of mossy rock, Whereon the daylight lingers ere it dies, When the broad valley in the gloaming lies. Around you are the everlasting hills, Whose presence all your soul with worship fills. The distant mountains, purple clad, are grouped Like monarchs, when the golden sun has stooped Down toward his journey's ending in the west, The amaranthine palace of his rest. Below, the river, like a sheet of glass, Reflects the glories of the clouds which pass In slow procession, waiting for the day To change her regal raiment for the gray -- The gleaming river, winding slowly down Beneath its shady banks from town to town, With here a wide stretch, like a lake, revealed By the low level of a fertile field, And here but hinted at, or half concealed Behind the clustering maples of a grove Where all the day the mocking echoes rove. You look upon a range of intervales Where the abundant harvest never fails. You see the milkmaid drive the loitering line Of solemn-minded, melancholy kine. Perhaps a solitary crow flaps by, With heavy wing and hoarse, defiant cry, And settles on the summit of the pine, Waiting in patience till the friendly shade Shall shield the purport of his nightly raid. Then, as the sun sinks in a cloud of fire, The bell, which consecrates the chapel spire, Rising amid a perfect bower of trees, Sends forth its evening message on the breeze, And from the hills which girt the town around Return the answers of its silver sound; And o'er the misty river and the meadows Creep slowly, slowly, the long, sombre shadows. | Discover our Poem Explanations and Poet Analyses!Other Poems of Interest...SITTING BULL IN SERBIA by WILLIAM JAY SMITH TO THE EXCELLENT ORINDA by PHILO PHILIPPA EPIGRAM OCCASIONED BY CIBBER'S VERSES IN PRAISE OF NASH: 1 by ALEXANDER POPE THE GIFT OF THE GODS by JOHN GODFREY SAXE TO CHRISTOPHER NORTH by ALFRED TENNYSON BEAU NASH by CHARLES TENNYSON TURNER BEAU NASH AND THE ROMAN, OR THE TWO ERAS by CHARLES TENNYSON TURNER TIS A LITTLE JOURNEY by ANONYMOUS |
|