STERN, rugged pile! thy scowl recalls the days Of foray and of feud, when, long ago, Homes were thought worthy of reproach or praise Only as yielding safeguards from the foe: Over thy gateways the armorial arms Proclaim of doughty Douglases, who held Thy towers against the foe, and thence repell'd Oft, after efforts vain, invasion's harms. Eve dimm'd the hills, as, by the Tweed below, We sat where once thy blossomy orchards smiled, And yet where many an apple-tree grows wild, Listening the blackbird, and the river's flow; While, high between us and the sunset glow, Thy giant walls seem'd picturesquely piled. | Discover our Poem Explanations and Poet Analyses!Other Poems of Interest...THE OCTOROON by GEORGIA DOUGLAS JOHNSON TO WHISTLER, AMERICAN; ON LOAN EXHIBIT OF PAINTINGS AT TATE GALLERY by EZRA POUND GETTING A PURCHASE by KAREN SWENSON NURSING HOME: THE VISIT by KAREN SWENSON THE HOMECOMING by THOMAS HARDY WHITTIER by MARGARET ELIZABETH MUNSON SANGSTER AT BETHLEHEM: 1. THE CHILD by JOHN BANISTER TABB |