The Highlands
SAW ye first, arrayed in mist and cloud;
No cheerful lights softened your aspect bold;
A sullen gray, or green, more grave and cold,
The varied beauties of the scene enshroud.
Yet not the less, O Hudson! calm and proud,
Did I receive the impress of that hour
Which showed thee to me, emblem of that power
Of high resolve, to which even rocks have bowed;
Thou wouldst not deign thy course to turn aside,
And seek some smiling valley's welcome warm,
But through the mountain's very heart, thy pride
Has been, thy channel and thy banks to form.
Not even the "bulwarks of the world" could bar
The inland fount from joining ocean's war!
No cheerful lights softened your aspect bold;
A sullen gray, or green, more grave and cold,
The varied beauties of the scene enshroud.
Yet not the less, O Hudson! calm and proud,
Did I receive the impress of that hour
Which showed thee to me, emblem of that power
Of high resolve, to which even rocks have bowed;
Thou wouldst not deign thy course to turn aside,
And seek some smiling valley's welcome warm,
But through the mountain's very heart, thy pride
Has been, thy channel and thy banks to form.
Not even the "bulwarks of the world" could bar
The inland fount from joining ocean's war!
Winged Sphinx
THROUGH brute nature upward rising,
Seed up-striving to the light,
Revelations still surprising,
My inwardness is grown insight.
Still I slight not those first stages,
Dark but God-directed Ages;
In my nature leonine
Labored & learned a Soul divine;
Put forth an aspect Chaste, Serene,
Of nature virgin mother queen;
Assumes at last the destined wings,
Earth & heaven together brings;
While its own form the riddle tells
That baffled all the wizard spells
Drawn from intellectual wells,
Cold waters where truth never dwells:
--It was fable told you so;--
Seek her in common daylight's glow.
Seed up-striving to the light,
Revelations still surprising,
My inwardness is grown insight.
Still I slight not those first stages,
Dark but God-directed Ages;
In my nature leonine
Labored & learned a Soul divine;
Put forth an aspect Chaste, Serene,
Of nature virgin mother queen;
Assumes at last the destined wings,
Earth & heaven together brings;
While its own form the riddle tells
That baffled all the wizard spells
Drawn from intellectual wells,
Cold waters where truth never dwells:
--It was fable told you so;--
Seek her in common daylight's glow.
I'm soooo sorry this took so long to post, I lost the sheet with the authors only to find it after coming home this morning from Thanksgiving.
7 comments:
The first poem takes place in the northeast of North America, not just the USA.It describes the area directly around the Niagra Falls. It talks about how sea will always meet the rivers at some area and that water is resolute.
The 2nd poem ties in both the ancient world of the modern one with the mention of Mary, mother of Jesus. It slso says how the ancient technologies were lost with their masters, never to be seen again. It also says how governments will always hold secrets/
Alex, in regards to your post about the first poem, I am curious to find out why you think it is about the area around Niagara Falls. I believe that the poem is directed more towards the Hudson River a la "O' Hudson!"
I was also wondering if anyone knew why “bulwarks of the world” was in quotes? I thought it was a verse from something or had a specific meaning, but I found that bulwarks just means, “Something serving as a defense or safeguard,” so I guess it just means like rocks or mountains.
I also found Margaret Fullers very easy to understand. There aren’t many metaphors to decipher in the first poem.
I may be way out of our time zone here, but I got the sense of an Adam and Eve and evolution, kind of vibe from the second poem. The first few sentences of the poem, “Through brute nature upward rising/Seed up-striving to the light/Revelations still surprising,” and “Of nature virgin mother queen” Which I think means made from the earth, which I connected to Adam and Eve. And then there are sentences such as “Revelations still surprising,” and “That baffled all the wizard spells/Drawn from intellectual wells,” in my opinion means, the scientist couldn’t figure it out, or something of that nature.
If someone could post and help me out it would be much appreciated.
The first poem is about the Hudson River that's a really long river that flows from eastern New York state down through the border of New York City and New Jersey and empties into the Atlantic Ocean. It was known as the "River of Mountains" by early adventurers because it went through the Adirondack Mountains. The poem talks about how the river can be really dirty ("gray" and "green")and also it can flow very fast and be very powerful ("even rocks have bowed"). It goes through the valleys and the mountains and joins up with "ocean's war".
Sounds like it's about a bird. A sphinx was something that the Egyptians believed in. It was a mythical being with a lion body and a human head with a tail and wings. So the poem is talking about the sphinx flying "destined wings" and "striving to the light." And the sphinx had a riddle that if the Egyptian didn't guess it right, they would be eaten by the sphinx. And the end of the poem says, see, I told you it wasn't real, it was a fable.
I beleive the "The Highlands" reffering to the beauty of the plains in the Northern U.S as Alex assumed. This is most likely the area around the Hudson River for she mentions it in the powem. She says that the river is the most powerful force in the highlands, for Of high resolve, to which even rocks have bowed;
Thou wouldst not deign thy course to turn aside, She says tha t water has the ability to move rocks and carve valleys for it is the most "resolute"
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