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Discover our Poem Explanations and Poet Analyses!Searching... Subject: SOUTHERN STATES Matches Found: 175 UPDATE command denied to user 'poetryex_users'@'localhost' for table `poetryex_poems`.`subcnt` A PLANTATION DITTY, by FRANK LEBBY STANTON Poem Text Poet's Biography First Line: De gray owl sings fum de chimbly top Last Line: "oh, wait, good lawd, 'twell ter-morror!" Subject(s): Southern States; South (u.s.) A PLANTATION PORTRAIT, by PAUL LAURENCE DUNBAR Poem Text Poet's Biography First Line: Hain't you see my mandy lou Last Line: Den pass on! Subject(s): Southern States; South (u.s.) A SEPTEMBER NIGHT, by GEORGE MARION MCCLELLAN Poem Text Poet's Biography First Line: The full september moon sheds floods of light Last Line: I cannot sing, with loves I cannot speak. Subject(s): African Americans; Night; Southern States; Negroes; American Blacks; Bedtime; South (u.s.) A SONG OF THE SOUTH, by CINCINNATUS HEINE MILLER Poem Text Poet Analysis Poet's Biography First Line: Rhyme on, rhyme on, in reedy flow Last Line: Wide empty hung the dead man's hands. Alternate Author Name(s): Miller, Joaquin Subject(s): Southern States A SONG TO THE SOUTH, by BEATRICE PAYNE MORGAN Poem Text First Line: Why make a song to some exotic isle? Last Line: And sing for you a heart's sincere love-song. Subject(s): Southern States; South (u.s.) A SOUTHERN SCENE, by PRISCILLA JANE THOMPSON Poem Text Poet's Biography First Line: Far in the land of sunny south Last Line: On those who doth on thee believe? Subject(s): African Americans; Racism; Southern States; Negroes; American Blacks; Racial Prejudice; Bigotry; South (u.s.) A SOUTHERN SINGER, by JAMES WHITCOMB RILEY Poem Text Poet Analysis Poet's Biography First Line: Herein are blown from out the Last Line: The night-breath of magnolia-bloom. Alternate Author Name(s): Johnson Of Boone, Benj. F. Subject(s): Poetry & Poets; Singing & Singers; Southern States; South (u.s.) A TRUCKER BREAKS DOWN, by DAVID BOTTOMS Poem Full Text Poet's Biography First Line: Remembering himself pulling onto a highway Last Line: Flowing down through absolute darkness into a pool of rising vapor. Subject(s): Georgia (state); Solitude; Southern States; Trucks & Trucking; Loneliness; South (u.s.); Teamsters; Truckers; Freight A TRUCKER DRIVES THROUGH HIS LOST YOUTH, by DAVID BOTTOMS Poem Full Text Poet's Biography First Line: Years ago he drove a different route Last Line: Him backwards as far as his mind will haul. Subject(s): Ford Motor Company; Southern States; Temperance; Trucks & Trucking; South (u.s.); Prohibition; Teamsters; Truckers; Freight ADDIE'S STORY, by NEAL BOWERS Poem Source First Line: Nearly sick myself from sitting up so long Last Line: From a terrible slaughter, %and I knew john barnette was dead Subject(s): Southern States ALAS! FOR THE SOUTH!, by J. GORDON COOGLER Poem Source First Line: Alas! For the south, her books have grown fewer Last Line: She never was much given to literature Subject(s): Southern States AN APPEAL TO MY COUNTRYWOMEN, by FRANCES ELLEN WATKINS HARPER Poem Text Poet Analysis Poet's Biography First Line: You can sigh o'er the sad-eyed armenian Last Line: And sin is the consort of woe. Subject(s): African Americans - Women; Southern States; South (u.s.) AN INVITATION TO MADISON COUNTY, by JAY WRIGHT Poem Full Text Poet Analysis Poet's Biography First Line: I ride through queens Last Line: "when people who have only themselves to give Subject(s): Southern States; South (u.s.) AN OLD HYMN FOR IAN JENKINS, by DAVID BOTTOMS Poem Full Text Poet's Biography First Line: All things we value in terms of contrast Last Line: Of the dream is place. Subject(s): Alienation (social Psychology); Cities; Dreams; New York City; Southern States; Estrangement; Outcasts; Urban Life; Nightmares; Manhattan; New York, New York; The Big Apple; South (u.s.) ASHES, by JAMES RYDER RANDALL Poem Text Poet's Biography First Line: The spring will come with its ebullient blood Last Line: The hand will raise thee up that smites thee now! Subject(s): Ash Wednesday; Southern States; South (u.s.) AT BESSEMER, by PHILIP LEVINE Poem Full Text Poet Analysis Poet's Biography First Line: 19 years old and going nowhere Subject(s): Southern States; South (u.s.) AT BESSEMER, by PHILIP LEVINE Poem Source Poet Analysis Poet's Biography First Line: 19 years old and going nowhere Subject(s): Southern States AT FORT PILLOW, by JAMES RYDER RANDALL Poem Text Poet's Biography First Line: You shudder as you think upon Last Line: And one lone sister's desperate cry! Subject(s): Graves; Southern States; War; Tombs; Tombstones; South (u.s.) AT THE MOVIE: VIRGINIA, 1956, by ELLEN BRYANT VOIGT Poem Full Text Poet Analysis Poet's Biography First Line: This is how it was: Subject(s): Racism; Southern States; Motion Pictures; Youth; Racial Prejudice; Bigotry; South (u.s.); Movies; Cinema BLACK WALNUTS, by NEAL BOWERS Poem Source First Line: The year my father used the car for hulling Last Line: And the fresh stain darkened on our hands Subject(s): Southern States BRIGHT LEAF, by ELLEN BRYANT VOIGT Poem Full Text Poet Analysis Poet's Biography First Line: Like words put to a song, the bunched tobacco leaves Subject(s): Tobbaco Farms; Women - Employment; Children; Farm Life; Southern States; Professional Women; Women In Business; Women's Careers; Childhood; Agriculture; Farmers; South (u.s.) CHARLESTOWN, by BESSIE CURTIS MARCIL Poem Text First Line: Low foam-washed marshes edge the distant shore Last Line: Help us to guard these sacred relics here, and keep them safe forevermore. Subject(s): Charleston, South Carolina; Southern States; South (u.s.) CHILDHOOD, by MARGARET ABIGAIL WALKER Poem Full Text Poet Analysis Poet's Biography First Line: When I was a child I knew red miners Alternate Author Name(s): Walker, Margaret+(1) Subject(s): African Americans - Children; Mines & Miners; Southern States; South (u.s.) CHILDHOOD, by MARGARET ABIGAIL WALKER Poem Source Poet Analysis Poet's Biography First Line: When I was a child I knew red miners Last Line: Where sentiment and hatred still held sway %and only bitter land was washed away Alternate Author Name(s): Walker, Margaret+(1) Subject(s): African Americans - Children; Mines And Miners; Southern States CHRISMUS ON THE PLANTATION, by PAUL LAURENCE DUNBAR Poem Text Poem Explanation Poet's Biography First Line: It was chrismus eve, I mind hit fu' a mighty gloomy day Last Line: So evahone was gay dat night, an' watched de chrismus in. Subject(s): Christmas; Slavery; Southern States; Nativity, The; Serfs; South (u.s.) CHRISTMAS EVE, SOUTH, 1865, by MARY TUCKER LAMBERT Poem Text Poet's Biography First Line: Poverty, remorseless spectre Last Line: For heaven is real, and earth deceiving. Alternate Author Name(s): Tucker, Mary Eliza Perine Subject(s): American Civil War; Christmas; Reconstruction (1865-1876); Southern States; United States - History; Nativity, The; South (u.s.) CHRISTMAS, SOUTH, 1866, by MARY TUCKER LAMBERT Poem Text Poet's Biography First Line: Laughing, merry, childish voices, woke us in their eager glee Last Line: And we grasp the sunbeam gladly, for it cheers our aching hearts. Alternate Author Name(s): Tucker, Mary Eliza Perine Subject(s): Christmas; Southern States; Nativity, The; South (u.s.) CLAY PIPE, by J. O. GARRETT Poem Text First Line: The old log house, built by his own hands Last Line: "I shall sleep."" and a door closed silently." Subject(s): American Civil War; Grandparents; Pioneers; Southern States; United States - History; Grandmothers; Grandfathers; Great Grandfathers; Great Grandmothers; South (u.s.) COASTING TOWARD MIDNIGHT AT THE SOUTHEASTERN FAIR, by DAVID BOTTOMS Poem Full Text Poet's Biography First Line: Stomach in my throat Last Line: And hurl them out among the stars. Subject(s): Atlanta, Georgia; Festivals; Self-control; Southern States; Fairs; Pageants; South (u.s.) COMMUNICATIONS, by NEAL BOWERS Poem Source First Line: Sent in after new ground was taken Last Line: Uncoiling a dark line into darkness %down which a familiar silence roars Subject(s): Southern States CONFEDERATES, by NEAL BOWERS Poem Source First Line: My father was only two in 1915 Last Line: The other to follow by way of the future Subject(s): Southern States CRY OF A PEOPLE, by MARY EVELYN DAVID Poem Source First Line: Why are your lilies so tall and pure Last Line: And barren your fields beneath! Alternate Author Name(s): Moore, Mollie E.; Davis, Mollie E. Moore Subject(s): Southern States CULTURAL EXCHANGE, by JAMES LANGSTON HUGHES Poem Source Poet Analysis Poet's Biography First Line: In the quarter of the negroes Last Line: Hand me my mint julep, mammy. %hurry up! %make haste! Alternate Author Name(s): Hughes, Langston Subject(s): African Americans; Mint Juleps; Southern States DARE, by NEAL BOWERS Poem Source First Line: He climbed the flaking girders, and jumped Last Line: And rose whole again behind them Subject(s): Southern States DEAD MAN INTERVIEW, by NEAL BOWERS Poem Source First Line: Dead for twelve minutes, the plumber in akron Last Line: As he did years ago, standing in the open door %with the light pouring in behind him Subject(s): Southern States DEATH SENTENCE, by NEAL BOWERS Poem Source First Line: We knew we'd find him guilty Last Line: As if he knew something we didn't know Subject(s): Southern States DIFFERENT, by NEAL BOWERS Poem Source First Line: Every life is a series of lives Last Line: Just someone other than he was, %better, he hoped Subject(s): Southern States DIXIE, by ANONYMOUS Poem Text First Line: Dis world was made in jis' six days Last Line: "look away, look away, look away, dixie land" Subject(s): African Americans - Song & Music;black Songs;southern States; Negro Spirituals;south (u.s.) DIXIE, by DAVID BAKER Poem Source Poet Analysis Poet's Biography First Line: I had no idea Last Line: And wish the same old wish, that we were %anywhere but here Subject(s): Loss; Moving And Movers; Refugees; Southern States; U.s. - Immigration And Emigration DRIVING LESSONS, by NEAL BOWERS Poem Source First Line: I learned to drive in a parking lot Last Line: Trying hard to smile, waiting for me %to steer my way across this emptiness Subject(s): Automobile Drivers; Southern States DUSK, by NEAL BOWERS Poem Source First Line: This last, late light Last Line: Though we have such light in common Subject(s): Southern States EATING HONEYBUNS ON THE LOUISIANA HIGHWAY, by SIMONE MUENCH Poem Source First Line: It's been two decades since I was in this southern Last Line: To watch herons skim the unlit %ripples of this black water Subject(s): Driving And Drivers; Louisiana; Southern States ENTERING THE SOUTH, by LUCILLE CLIFTON Poem Full Text Poet Analysis Poet's Biography First Line: I have put on my mother's coat Last Line: Heavy and dark and alive Subject(s): African Americans; Animal Rights; Fur Trade; Southern States; Negroes; American Blacks; Animal Abuse; Vivisection; Furs; South (u.s.) ENTERING THE SOUTH, by LUCILLE CLIFTON Poem Source Poet Analysis Poet's Biography First Line: I have put on my mother's coat Last Line: Heavy and dark and alive Subject(s): African Americans; Animal Rights; Fur Trade; Southern States ETHNOGENESIS, by HENRY TIMROD Poem Text Poem Explanation Poet Analysis Poet's Biography First Line: Hath not the morning dawned with added light? Last Line: Strange tropic warmth and hints of summer seas. Subject(s): American Civil War; Confederate States Of America; Southern States; United States - History; Confederacy; South (u.s.) FAIR TIMES IN OLD TENNESSEE, by JOHN TROTWOOD MOORE Poem Text Poet's Biography Last Line: Lord, when I die, jes' take me whar a fair is allers gwine! Subject(s): African Americans; Southern States; Tennessee; Negroes; American Blacks; South (u.s.) FAITH, by NEAL BOWERS Poem Source First Line: I said it three times Last Line: Of my chasing blood, %and I believed Subject(s): Southern States FAT SOUTHERN MEN IN SUMMER SUITS, by LIAM RECTOR Poem Full Text Poet Analysis Poet's Biography First Line: Fat southern men in their summer suit Subject(s): Clothing & Dress; Summer; Southern States; South (u.s.) FICTION, by LISEL MUELLER Poem Full Text Poet Analysis Poet's Biography First Line: Going south, we watched spring Alternate Author Name(s): Muller, Lisel Subject(s): Southern States; Colors; Nature, Travel; South (u.s.) FINALLY, by MARILYN KALLET Poem Source First Line: Finally (one year down) I dreamed my mother Last Line: With sleek hides instead of howling Subject(s): Death; Family Life; Mothers; Relationships; Southern States FLIES ON SHIT, by FRANK STANFORD Poem Full Text Poet Analysis Poet's Biography First Line: To the gentlemen from the south Subject(s): Southern States; Flies; South (u.s.) FLIGHT, by NEAL BOWERS Poem Source First Line: The river stops under the bridge Last Line: And whatever winged thing lingered there %has flown Subject(s): Southern States FOR THE EGO, by NEAL BOWERS Poem Source First Line: Remember, life chose you Last Line: O sweet, ephemeral one! Subject(s): Southern States FOR THE SOUTH, by NEAL BOWERS Poem Source First Line: I hate your hills white with dogwood Last Line: Bitter, just the way I like them Subject(s): Southern States FUTURE, by NEAL BOWERS Poem Source First Line: Because the jobs were there Last Line: As they raced their engines at each stoplight %and cruised their towns in circles Subject(s): Southern States GAR, by DAVID BOTTOMS Poem Full Text Poet's Biography First Line: All night the river house swayed Last Line: Like a memory at the light. Subject(s): Country Life; Fish & Fishing; Southern States; Anglers; South (u.s.) GHAZALS: 17, by JAMES HARRISON Poem Text Poet Analysis Poet's Biography First Line: O atlanta, roseate dawn, the clodhoppers, hillbillies rednecks Last Line: 150 lbs. I weigh 200 and was not allowed into her blue fuck room. Alternate Author Name(s): Harrison, Jim Subject(s): Dreams; Hunting; Southern States; Nightmares; Hunters; South (u.s.) GRATITUDE DOWN SOUTH, by EDWINA WOOD WHITESIDE Poem Text First Line: I'se des a little cullud boy Last Line: "let yo' co'science be yo' guide." Subject(s): African Americans - Children; Southern States; South (u.s.) HEROICS, by NEAL BOWERS Poem Source First Line: If I were a child, I could convince myself Last Line: Propping the wall so long against an ocean Subject(s): Southern States HYMN OF THE MORAVIAN NUNS OF BETHLEHEM; ... PULASKI'S BANNER, by HENRY WADSWORTH LONGFELLOW Poem Text Poet Analysis Poet's Biography First Line: When the dying flame of day Last Line: And it was his martial cloak and shroud! Subject(s): American Revolution; Pulaski, Casimir (1747-1779); Southern States; South (u.s.) HYMNS, by NEAL BOWERS Poem Source First Line: Unbending the shape of the pew Last Line: Over the limitless void, before the beginning, %withholding the word that was everything Subject(s): Southern States IDYLL OF THE SOUTH, SELS., by ALBERY ALLSON WHITMAN Poet's Biography Subject(s): African Americans; Freedom; Racism; Southern States IN THE SOUTH, by JAMES WHITCOMB RILEY Poem Text Poet Analysis Poet's Biography First Line: There is a princess in the south Last Line: Would blossom as a lily might. Alternate Author Name(s): Johnson Of Boone, Benj. F. Subject(s): Beauty; Faces; Music & Musicians; Night; Southern States; Bedtime; South (u.s.) INTEGRATIONS, by NEAL BOWERS Poem Source First Line: I don't even know his name Last Line: Thee's no way to save just one of us Subject(s): Southern States INVITATION TO MADISON COUNTY, by JAY WRIGHT Poem Source Poet Analysis Poet's Biography First Line: I ride through queens Last Line: When people, who have only themselves to give, %offer you their meal Subject(s): Southern States JOHN W. MORTON, by JAMES RYDER RANDALL Poem Text Poet's Biography First Line: Tinged with flame and sore beset Last Line: Morton and forrest were as one. Subject(s): Arms & Armor; Southern States; War; South (u.s.) JULY IN GEORGY, by JAMES WELDON JOHNSON Poem Text Poet Analysis Poet's Biography First Line: I'm back down in ole georgy w'ere de sun is / shinin' hot Last Line: Shade. Subject(s): Georgia (state); Nature; Southern States; South (u.s.) LEARNING TO READ, by FRANCES ELLEN WATKINS HARPER Poem Text Poet Analysis Poet's Biography First Line: Very soon the yankee teachers / came down and set up school Last Line: As the queen upon her throne. Subject(s): African Americans - Children; Americans; Bible; Schools; Slavery; Southern States; United States; Students; Serfs; South (u.s.); America LEE, by LUCILLE CLIFTON Poem Full Text Poet Analysis Poet's Biography First Line: My mother's people Subject(s): African Americans; Fathers; Generals; Lee, Robert Edward (1807-1870); Slavery; Southern States; Virginia (state); Negroes; American Blacks; Serfs; South (u.s.) LEE, by LUCILLE CLIFTON Poem Source Poet Analysis Poet's Biography First Line: My mother's people Last Line: Chaining his mother to lee Subject(s): African Americans; Fathers; Generals; Lee, Robert Edward (1807-1870); Slavery; Southern States; Virginia (state) LEGACY, by NEAL BOWERS Poem Source First Line: In the photo I've never seen Last Line: I answer to in dreams, %and I answer Subject(s): Southern States LEGACY: MY SOUTH, by DUDLEY RANDALL Poem Full Text Poet's Biography First Line: What desperate nightmare rapts me to this land Subject(s): African Americans; Southern States; Negroes; American Blacks; South (u.s.) LEGACY: MY SOUTH, by DUDLEY RANDALL Poem Source Poet's Biography First Line: What desperate nightmare rapts me to this land Last Line: Famished upon the plow, and overhead %a lean bird circles Subject(s): African Americans; Southern States LIKE DECORATIONS IN A NIGGER CEMETERY, by WALLACE STEVENS Poem Full Text Poet Analysis Poet's Biography First Line: In the far south the sun of autum is passing Subject(s): African Americans; Cemeteries; Southern States; Negroes; American Blacks; Graveyards; South (u.s.) LIKE DECORATIONS IN A NIGGER CEMETERY, by WALLACE STEVENS Poem Source Poet Analysis Poet's Biography First Line: In the far south the sun of autum is passing Last Line: One of the leaves that have fallen in autumn? %but the wise man avenges by building his city in snow Subject(s): African Americans; Cemeteries; Southern States LOST IN THE VICINITY, by NEAL BOWERS Poem Source First Line: Late summer twilight, and I have dozed Last Line: As all the lost companions of our lives come home Subject(s): Southern States LOVE'S LAND, by LOUISE CHANDLER MOULTON Poem Text Poet Analysis Poet's Biography First Line: In the south is love's land Last Line: "kisses it, and kills." Alternate Author Name(s): Chandler, Ellen Louise Subject(s): Southern States; South (u.s.) MAGNOLIA GRANDIFLORA, by CORA CASE PORTER Poem Text First Line: Down south / the wind croons low Last Line: Magnolia grandiflora. Subject(s): Magnolias; Southern States; South (u.s.) MASSA'S IN DE COLD, [COLD] GROUND, by STEPHEN COLLINS FOSTER Poem Text Poet's Biography First Line: Round de meadows am a-ringing Last Line: Massa's in de cold, cold ground. Subject(s): Southern States; South (u.s.) MIGRATORY PATTERNS, by NEAL BOWERS Poem Source First Line: The past hangs on Last Line: And in the air a fluttering Subject(s): Southern States MINDING, by NEAL BOWERS Poem Source First Line: Because the insomniac lilac Last Line: Bucking me awake like voltage Subject(s): Southern States MORE LIGHT!', by NEAL BOWERS Poem Source First Line: Suppose those last words Last Line: And suddenly the air was luminous Subject(s): Southern States MY SOUTH: 1. ON THE PORCH, by DONALD JUSTICE Poem Full Text Poet Analysis Poet's Biography First Line: There used to be a way the sunlight caught Subject(s): Southern States; South (u.s.) MY SOUTH: 1. ON THE PORCH, by DONALD JUSTICE Poem Source Poet Analysis Poet's Biography First Line: There used to be a way the sunlight caught Last Line: I would be evening soon then, very soon Subject(s): Southern States MY SOUTH: 3. ON THE FARM, by DONALD JUSTICE Poem Full Text Poet Analysis Poet's Biography First Line: And I, missing the city intensely at that moment Subject(s): Farm Life; Southern States; Agriculture; Farmers; South (u.s.) MY SOUTH: 3. ON THE FARM, by DONALD JUSTICE Poem Source Poet Analysis Poet's Biography First Line: And I, missing the city intensely at that moment Last Line: Protected by a cloud let down by the gods to save him Subject(s): Farm Life; Southern States MY SOUTH: 4. ON THE TRAIN, HEADING NORTH THROUGH FLORIDA ..., by DONALD JUSTICE Poem Full Text Poet Analysis Poet's Biography First Line: Midnight or after, and the little lights Subject(s): Railroads; Southern States; Railways; Trains; South (u.s.) MY SOUTH: 4. ON THE TRAIN, HEADING NORTH THROUGH FLORIDA ..., by DONALD JUSTICE Poem Source Poet Analysis Poet's Biography First Line: Midnight or after, and the little lights Last Line: And the great wheels smash and pound beneath our feet Subject(s): Railroads; Southern States NIGHT BUILDER, by NEAL BOWERS Poem Source First Line: He works every night after work, my father Last Line: Sanding me to sleep with a 'hush,' %with a 'hush.' Subject(s): Southern States NIGHT, DEATH, MISSISSIPPI, by ROBERT EARL HAYDEN Poem Full Text Poet Analysis Poet's Biography First Line: A quavering cry. Screech-owl? Subject(s): African Americans; Racism; Southern States; Negroes; American Blacks; Racial Prejudice; Bigotry; South (u.s.) NIGHT, DEATH, MISSISSIPPI, by ROBERT EARL HAYDEN Poem Source Poet Analysis Poet's Biography First Line: A quavering cry. Screech-owl? Last Line: O night betrayed by darkness not its own Subject(s): African Americans; Racism; Southern States NORTH AND SOUTH, by JAMES WHITCOMB RILEY Poem Text Poet Analysis Poet's Biography First Line: Of the north I wove a dream Last Line: In the silence of the dream I found fulfilled. Alternate Author Name(s): Johnson Of Boone, Benj. F. Subject(s): Dreams; Grapes; North, The; Southern States; Nightmares; South (u.s.) NOT A MOVIE, by JAMES LANGSTON HUGHES Poem Source Poet Analysis Poet's Biography First Line: Well the rocked him with road-apples Last Line: But, thank god , he wasn't dead! %and there ain't no ku klux on a 133rd Alternate Author Name(s): Hughes, Langston Subject(s): African Americans; Elections; Harlem (new York City); Racism; Southern States NOVEMBER COTTON FLOWER, by JEAN TOOMER Poem Full Text Poet Analysis Poet's Biography Subject(s): Cotton; Autumn; Southern States; Fall; South (u.s.) O MAGNET-SOUTH, by WALT WHITMAN Poem Text Poet Analysis Poet's Biography First Line: O magnet-south! O glistening perfumed south! My south! Last Line: Tennessee and never wander more. Subject(s): Southern States; South (u.s.) O SOUTHLAND!, by JAMES WELDON JOHNSON Poem Text Poet Analysis Poet's Biography First Line: O southland! O southland! Last Line: The faint one at his side. Subject(s): African Americans; Emancipation Movement & Proclamation; Freedom; Southern States; Negroes; American Blacks; Antislavery Movement - United States; Liberty; South (u.s.) OBLIVION, by CAROL FROST Poem Source Poet Analysis Poet's Biography First Line: How many choruses will this man breathe Last Line: Like a drunk man with his horn, a grail Subject(s): Singing And Singers; Southern States ODE TO A MOCKINGBIRD, by ANNE ARRINGTON TYSON Poem Text First Line: All hail blithe songster of the south Last Line: Bird of the south, bird of the spring! Subject(s): Mockingbirds; Southern States; South (u.s.) OLD BELLE, by LIZETTE WOODWORTH REESE Poem Source Poet Analysis Poet's Biography First Line: A daughter of the cavaliers Last Line: Last of her kin, but still a rose! Subject(s): Southern States ON A PROPOSED TRIP SOUTH, by WILLIAM CARLOS WILLIAMS Poem Text Poet Analysis Poet's Biography First Line: They tell me on the morrow I must leave Last Line: Gay birds and hear the bees make heavy droon. Subject(s): Southern States; South (u.s.) ON THE RAMPART, by JAMES RYDER RANDALL Poem Text Poet's Biography First Line: On sumter's rampart, that sweet eve Last Line: In the long summer time of god! Subject(s): Ramparts; Southern States; War; South (u.s.) ONCE, by ALICE WALKER Poem Full Text Poet Analysis Poet's Biography First Line: Green lawn / a picket fence Subject(s): African Americans - Women; Southern States; South (u.s.) ONCE, by ALICE WALKER Poem Source Poet Analysis Poet's Biography First Line: Green lawn %a picket fence Last Line: The very %tips %of her %fingers Subject(s): African Americans - Women; Southern States OUT OF THE SOUTH, by NEAL BOWERS Poem Source First Line: Back home on the sly, as usual Last Line: And joined in the morning traffic, %headed somewhere else Subject(s): Family Life; Homecoming; Southern States PALMETTO PICTURES, SELS., by VOLNEY HICKOX Poem Source First Line: Beautiful land, where the bountiful sun Last Line: This is the land that his servants shall win -- %liberty's eden from slavery's rod Subject(s): American Civil War; Emancipation Movement And Proclamation; Southern States; U.s. - History PASSED, by NEAL BOWERS Poem Source First Line: Already it is later Last Line: Because already it is over Subject(s): Southern States PHILOSOPHY OF METAPHOR, by NEAL BOWERS Poem Source First Line: Out of the need to know comes Last Line: Doesn't the whole craggy cliffside %break into bloom? Subject(s): Southern States PLACIDE BOSSIER, by JAMES RYDER RANDALL Poem Text Poet's Biography First Line: Ah, friend! In the tender college time Last Line: The cross on the saint-heart shining! Subject(s): Death; Soldiers; Southern States; War; Dead, The; South (u.s.) PLANTATION DRINKING SONG, by ANONYMOUS - AFRICAN AMERICAN Poem Text First Line: De ladies in de parlour Last Line: "a-drinkin' branbdy toddy, / good-mornin', ladies all" Subject(s): Drinks & Drinking;southern States; South (u.s.) POEM FOR A LITTLE GIRL, by HARRIET CHADWICK TURNER Poem Text First Line: She has a certain new england primness Last Line: Witches were hanged on salem hill. Subject(s): Daughters; Girls; Southern States; South (u.s.) PRIMORDIA IN THE SOUTH, by WALLACE STEVENS Poem Text Poet Analysis Poet's Biography First Line: Unctuous furrows / the ploughman portrays in you Subject(s): Southern States; South (u.s.) PRIMORDIA IN THE SOUTH, by WALLACE STEVENS Poem Source Poet Analysis Poet's Biography First Line: Unctuous furrows %the ploughman portrays in you Last Line: In the distances of sleep? %speak it Subject(s): Southern States PROGRESSION; OR, THE SOUTH DEFENDED: SLAVERY, by MARY SOPHIE SHAW HOMES Poem Text First Line: The book of books we confidently quote Last Line: Gainst wild fanaticism's fickle laws. Alternate Author Name(s): Mayfield, Millie Subject(s): American Civil War; Bible; Cruelty; Slavery; Southern States; United States - History; Serfs; South (u.s.) RECORDING THE SPIRIT VOICES, by DAVID BOTTOMS Poem Full Text Poet's Biography First Line: In the hollow below the hill vaults Last Line: Bury the truth these angels stand on: born and died. Subject(s): Cemeteries; Confederate States Of America; Death; Poetry & Poets; Southern States; Spiritual Life; Graveyards; Confederacy; Dead, The; South (u.s.) REMNANTS, by NEAL BOWERS Poem Source First Line: Winding a mile or more Last Line: I once lived here.' Subject(s): Southern States REUNITED, by ABRAM JOSEPH RYAN Poem Text Poet's Biography First Line: Purer than thy own white snow Last Line: "o northland, in thy generous deed and grand." Subject(s): Reconstruction (1865-1876); Southern States; Yellow Fever; South (u.s.) RUBBING THE FACES OF ANGELS, by DAVID BOTTOMS Poem Full Text Poet's Biography First Line: On the balcony of the golden eagle motor inn Last Line: Me the reclining skeleton of thomas pool. Subject(s): Charleston, South Carolina; Death; Hotels; Southern States; Dead, The; Inns; Innskeepers; Motels; Boarding Houses; South (u.s.) SECRET PLACE, by NEAL BOWERS Poem Source First Line: After thirty years, I find the spot again Last Line: They prove a sea was here Subject(s): Southern States SENTINEL SONGS: 2, by ABRAM JOSEPH RYAN Poem Text Poet's Biography First Line: When falls the cause of right Last Line: And throb through a thousand years! Subject(s): Poetry & Poets; Southern States; South (u.s.) SENTINEL SONGS: 3, by ABRAM JOSEPH RYAN Poem Text Poet's Biography First Line: And the songs, with brave, sad face Last Line: Watch the plain where sleep the slain. Subject(s): Poetry & Poets; Southern States; South (u.s.) SENTINEL SONGS: 5. THE CAUSE OF THE SOUTH, by ABRAM JOSEPH RYAN Poem Text Poet's Biography First Line: The fallen cause still waits Last Line: Will echo from heart to heart Subject(s): Peace; Southern States; South (u.s.) SHADOWS, by LUCILLE CLIFTON Poem Source Poet Analysis Poet's Biography First Line: In the latter days Last Line: Girl girl wake up. %somebody calling you Subject(s): Memphis, Tennessee; Past; Southern States SINGING DIXIE, by NEAL BOWERS Poem Source First Line: Old times there are not forgotten Last Line: Look away. Look away Subject(s): Southern States SIXTY YEARS AGO TO-DAY, by WILLIAM A. PHELON Poem Text First Line: Dense clouds of dust on the virginia roads-- Last Line: Of appomattox—and the final scene! Subject(s): Appomattox, Virginia; Soldiers; Southern States; War; South (u.s.) SNAPSHOTS OF THE COTTON SOUTH, by FRANK MARSHALL DAVIS Poem Full Text Poem Explanation Poet Analysis Poet's Biography First Line: Listen, you drawing men Last Line: Portrait of the cotton south Subject(s): Southern States; South (u.s.) SNAPSHOTS OF THE COTTON SOUTH, by FRANK MARSHALL DAVIS Poem Source Poet Analysis Poet's Biography First Line: Listen, you drawing men Last Line: Or will you mold this section %so its portrait will fit %in the sunlit hall %of ideal america? Subject(s): Southern States SOME RIVERS, by FRANK ASCH Poem Source First Line: Some rivers rush to the sea Last Line: With no hurry in her at all Subject(s): Everglades, Florida; Rivers; Southern States SONG FOR A DARK GIRL, by JAMES LANGSTON HUGHES Poem Text Poem Explanation Poet Analysis Poet's Biography First Line: Way down south in dixie Alternate Author Name(s): Hughes, Langston Subject(s): African Americans; Love; Lynching; Southern States; Negroes; American Blacks; South (u.s.) SONG FOR A DARK GIRL, by JAMES LANGSTON HUGHES Poem Source Poet Analysis Poet's Biography First Line: Way down south in dixie Last Line: Love is a naked shadow %on a gnarled and naked tree Alternate Author Name(s): Hughes, Langston Subject(s): African Americans; Love; Lynching; Southern States SONG OF THE SOUTH, by DAVID MACBETH MOIR Poem Text Poet's Biography First Line: Of all the garden flowers Last Line: Than in all the world beside. Alternate Author Name(s): Delta Subject(s): Homecoming; Love; Southern States; South (u.s.) SOUTH, by NATASHA TRETHEWEY Poem Full Text Poem Explanation Poet Analysis Recitation Poet's Biography First Line: I returned to a stand of pines, / bone-thin phalanx Subject(s): African Americans; Mississippi; Slavery; Southern States; Negroes; American Blacks; Serfs; South (u.s.) SOUTH, by NATASHA TRETHEWEY Poem Source Poet Analysis Poet's Biography First Line: I returned to a stand of pines, %bone-thin phalanx Last Line: In my native land, this place they'll bury me Subject(s): African Americans; Mississippi; Slavery; Southern States SOUTH SONG, by ROY ADDISON HELTON Poem Text Poet's Biography First Line: I'm for the south, - for the black-eyed south Last Line: From beauty's warm lips on the bride-bed of june. Subject(s): African Americans - History; Southern States; Black Heritage; South (u.s.) SOUTH: LOUISIANA, by ARTUR LUNDKVIST Poem Source First Line: Railroads swallowed up by marshes of green Last Line: An imagined pulse Subject(s): Hunting; Louisiana; Southern States SOUTHBOUND, by ELIZABETH S. ADCOCK Poem Source Poet's Biography First Line: You can go back in a clap of blue metal Last Line: You may listen for thunder Alternate Author Name(s): Adcock, Betty Subject(s): Southern States; Travel SOUTHERN MANSION, by ARNA BONTEMPS Poem Full Text Poem Explanation Poet Analysis Poet's Biography First Line: Poplars are standing there still as death Subject(s): African Americans; Haunted Houses; Southern States; Supernatural; Negroes; American Blacks; South (u.s.) SOUTHERN MANSION, by ARNA BONTEMPS Poem Source Poet Analysis Poet's Biography First Line: Poplars are standing there still as death Last Line: They have broken roses down %and poplars stand there still as death Subject(s): African Americans; Haunted Houses; Southern States; Supernatural SOUTHERN ROAD, by STERLING ALLEN BROWN Poem Full Text Poem Explanation Poet Analysis Poet's Biography First Line: Swing dat hammer - hunh - / steady, bo' Subject(s): African Americans; Roads; Southern States; Negroes; American Blacks; Paths; Trails; South (u.s.) SOUTHERN ROAD, by STERLING ALLEN BROWN Poem Source Poet Analysis Poet's Biography First Line: Swing dat hammer - hunh - %steady, bo' Last Line: Let me go; %po' los' boy, bebby, %evahmo... Subject(s): African Americans; Roads; Southern States SOUTHERN ROAD, by MWATABU OKANTAH Poem Source First Line: You walked dusty dry roads Last Line: Is in brown love ... Subject(s): Brown, Sterling (1901-1989); Jazz; Music And Musicians; Racism; Southern States SOUTHERN ROAD, by DUDLEY RANDALL Poem Source Poet's Biography First Line: There the black river, boundary to hell Last Line: I have to love you, though they sweep me far. %and I set forth upon the southern road Subject(s): African Americans; Slavery; Southern States; Underground Railroad SOUTHERNER, by KARL SHAPIRO Poem Source Poem Explanation Poet Analysis Poet's Biography First Line: He entered with the authority of politeness Last Line: Who know how to conform, how to compel, %and how from the best bush to receive a flower Subject(s): Southern States SPEAKING OF THE SOUTH: 1961, by JOE BOLTON Poem Source First Line: John f. Kennedy is alive and loved, and the moon remains Last Line: Of language, but squalling even then to make myself heard Subject(s): Southern States SPELLS, by NEAL BOWERS Poem Source First Line: To keep him from swallowing his tongue Last Line: Filling with the broken world Subject(s): Southern States SPRING IN THE SOUTH, by HENRY VAN DYKE Poem Text Poet's Biography First Line: Now in the oak the sap of life is welling Last Line: Love, love, love, and spring in the south! Alternate Author Name(s): Civis Americanus Subject(s): Southern States; Spring; South (u.s.) STUMPTOWN ATTENDS THE PICTURE SHOW, by DAVID BOTTOMS Poem Full Text Poet's Biography First Line: Word has come and martha the ticket girl Last Line: Moving in a cloud of dust toward the theater marquee. Subject(s): Canton, Georgia; Motion Pictures; Police; Racism; Southern States; Movies; Cinema; Racial Prejudice; Bigotry; South (u.s.) TENTH-YEAR ELEGY, by NEAL BOWERS Poem Source First Line: Careless man, my father Last Line: High up in the branches, and I stop %whatever I am doing and look up Subject(s): Southern States THE BATTLE CRY OF THE SOUTH, by JAMES RYDER RANDALL Poem Text Poet's Biography First Line: Brothers! The thunder-cloud is black Last Line: And the god of the maccabees! Subject(s): Bible; Soldiers; Southern States; War; South (u.s.) THE C. S. ARMY'S COMMISSARY, by EDWARD PORTER THOMPSON Poem Text First Line: Well, this is bad!' we sighing said Last Line: "but still press on, to do or die!" Subject(s): American Civil War; Southern States; U.s. - History; War; South (u.s.) THE DAY DR. KNOX DID IT, by ROBERT PENN WARREN Poem Full Text Poem Explanation Poet Analysis Poet's Biography First Line: Heat-blaze, white dazzle: and white is the dust Last Line: It us night. In the next room she weeps Subject(s): Childhood Memories; Suicide; Southern States; Death THE DESERTED PLANTATION, by PAUL LAURENCE DUNBAR Poem Text Poet's Biography First Line: Oh, de grubbin'-hoe's a-rustin' in de co'nah Last Line: An' calls me to my qua'ters in de sky. Subject(s): African Americans; Southern States; Negroes; American Blacks; South (u.s.) THE EXILE, by FORD MADOX FORD Poem Text Poet's Biography First Line: My father had many oxen Last Line: Of hirelings once queen's daughters and slaves the seed of kings. Alternate Author Name(s): Hueffer, Ford Hermann; Hueffer, Ford Madox Subject(s): African Americans; Slavery; Southern States; Negroes; American Blacks; Serfs; South (u.s.) THE MYSTIC RIVER, by GALWAY KINNELL Poem Full Text Poet Analysis Poet's Biography First Line: When I cross Last Line: Bit of secret, lighted flesh, open up the earth? Subject(s): Civil Rights Movement; Southern States; Racism; South (u.s.); Racial Prejudice; Bigotry THE NIGHT THAT LORCA COMES, by BOB KAUFMAN Poem Full Text Poet Analysis Poet's Biography Last Line: The white south shall gather / at preservation hall Subject(s): African Americans; Southern States; Racism; Negroes; American Blacks; South (u.s.); Racial Prejudice; Bigotry THE PALMETTO AND THE PINE, by MANLEY H. PIKE Poem Text First Line: There grows a fair palmetto in the sunny southern lands Last Line: In one grand whole, as one soil bears the palmetto and the pine! Subject(s): North, The; Palmetto Trees; Pine Trees; Reconciliation; Southern States; Trees; South (u.s.) THE PRAYER OF THE SOUTH, by ABRAM JOSEPH RYAN Poem Text Poet's Biography First Line: My brow is bent beneath a heavy rod! Last Line: Pity and pardon. Father, hear my prayer! Subject(s): Prayer; Southern States; South (u.s.) THE SENTENCE OF JOHN L. BROWN, by JOHN GREENLEAF WHITTIER Poem Text Poet Analysis Poet's Biography First Line: Ho! Thou who seekest late and long Last Line: The smile of god is victory. Subject(s): Justice; Love - Cultural Differences; Slavery; Southern States; Serfs; South (u.s.) THE SINGING TOWER, by ELEANOR STIMMEL Poem Text First Line: Majestic beauty! Pride of southern state! Last Line: "to pause, and ""take thy shoes from off thy feet." Subject(s): Southern States; Trees; South (u.s.) THE SONG OF THE FLAGS, by SILAS WEIR MITCHELL Poem Text Poet's Biography First Line: We loved the wild clamor of battle Last Line: "forgive, but ah, never forget." Variant Title(s): On The Return Of The Confederate Flags By Congress Subject(s): Flags - Confederate States Of America; Forgiveness; Southern States; Clemency; South (u.s.) THE SOUTH, by EMMA LAZARUS Poem Text Poet Analysis Poet's Biography First Line: Night, and beneath star-blazoned summer skies Last Line: And leaps from dreams to hail the coming day. Subject(s): Southern States; South (u.s.) THE SOUTHERN REFUGEE, by GEORGE MOSES HORTON Poem Text Poet Analysis Poet's Biography First Line: What sudden ill the world await Last Line: The place of beauty -- my native home. Subject(s): African Americans; Southern States; Negroes; American Blacks; South (u.s.) THE SOUTHERN ROAD, by DUDLEY RANDALL Poem Full Text Poet's Biography First Line: There the black river, boundary to hell Subject(s): African Americans; Slavery; Southern States; Underground Railroad; Negroes; American Blacks; Serfs; South (u.s.) THE SPIREA, by PAUL HAMILTON HAYNE Poem Text Poet Analysis Poet's Biography First Line: Of all the subtle fires of earth Last Line: Paled like a bridal rose. Subject(s): Southern States; Spiraea (plant); South (u.s.) THE STRICKEN SOUTH TO THE NORTH, by PAUL HAMILTON HAYNE Poem Text Poet Analysis Poet's Biography First Line: When ruthful time the south's memorial places Last Line: Subdues the souls which hate could only wound! Subject(s): Reconstruction (1865-1876); Southern States; Yellow Fever; South (u.s.) THE SUNNY SOUTHLAND, by BELLE RICHARDSON HARRISON Poem Text Poet's Biography First Line: In our sunny southland / balmy breezes blow Last Line: This garden spot of ours. Subject(s): Southern States; Sun; South (u.s.) TIN ROOF BLUES, by STERLING ALLEN BROWN Poem Source Poet Analysis Poet's Biography First Line: I'm goin' where de southern crosses top de c. & o Last Line: I'm goin' where de shingles covers people mo' my kind Subject(s): African Americans; Southern States TO THE NIGHTJAR, by CHARLES WHITWORTH WYNNE Poem Text First Line: When the moon hangs high in the heavens Last Line: Till thy song comes over the hill. Alternate Author Name(s): Cayzer, Charles Subject(s): Nature; Night; Nightjars; Southern States; Bedtime; South (u.s.) TO THE SOUTH ON ITS NEW SLAVERY, by PAUL LAURENCE DUNBAR Poem Text Poem Explanation Poet's Biography First Line: Heart of the southland, heed me pleading now Last Line: Till thou, oh, south, and thine, come to thine own. Subject(s): Racism; Southern States; Racial Prejudice; Bigotry; South (u.s.) TUSKEGEE, by LESLIE PINCKNEY HILL Poem Text First Line: Wherefore this busy labor without rest? Last Line: The south will wear eternally a stain. Subject(s): African Americans; Southern States; Tuskegee Institute; Negroes; American Blacks; South (u.s.) WELCOME, by NEAL BOWERS Poem Source First Line: American by birth, %southern by the grace of god Last Line: Looking for the first time as if he knows me Subject(s): Southern States WHITE, U.S.A., by NEAL BOWERS Poem Source First Line: White is nobody's home Last Line: Each morning a hopeless tangle Subject(s): Southern States WHY ARE DADDIES SO MEAN, by JANE CHAMBERS Poem Source First Line: In the south there is a saying Subject(s): Homosexuality; Southern States WILLIAM AND ANNIE; OR, A TALE OF LOVE AND WAR, SELS., by CHARLES T. DANIELS Poem Source First Line: Most glorious southern land, of thee I sing Last Line: To gain the heaven of one warm embrace? Subject(s): American Civil War; Southern States; U.s. - History WORD WITH MY FATHER, by NEAL BOWERS Poem Source First Line: Cerulean is a word my father never knew Last Line: Where the sky in november is a particular blue Subject(s): Southern States WRITING ON NAPKINS AT THE SUNSHINE CLUB; MACON, GEORGIA 1970, by DAVID BOTTOMS Poem Full Text Poet's Biography First Line: The rock-o-la plays country and western Last Line: Even the low belch of the brunette behind the flippers. Subject(s): Alcoholism & Alcoholics; Country Life; Country Music; Poetry & Poets; Southern States; Drunkards; Alcohol Abuse; South (u.s.) |
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