John Greenleaf Whittier
John Greenleaf Whittier
John Greenleaf Whittierwas an American Quaker poet and advocate of the abolition of slavery in the United States. Frequently listed as one of the Fireside Poets, he was influenced by the Scottish poet Robert Burns. Whittier is remembered particularly for his anti-slavery writings as well as his book Snow-Bound...
NationalityAmerican
ProfessionPoet
Date of Birth17 December 1807
CountryUnited States of America
important
What is really momentous and all-important with us is the present, by which the future is shaped and colored.
men roots battle
For still the new transcends the old In signs and tokens manifold; Slaves rise up men; the olive waves, With roots deep set in battle graves!
dip quiet wave
Low stir of leaves and dip of oars And lapsing waves on quiet shores.
hope suffering dread
The hope of all who suffer, The dread of all who wrong.
prayer headstone doing-good
His daily prayer, far better understood in acts than in words, was simply doing good.
song fall years
Once more the liberal year laughs out O'er richer stores than gems or gold: Once more with harvest song and shout Is nature's boldest triumph told.
flower garden tree
Who sows a field, or trains a flower, Or plants at tree, is more than all.
summer art memories
They tell me, Lucy, thou art dead, that all of thee we loved and cherished has with thy summer roses perished; and left, as its young beauty fled, an ashen memory in its stead.
new-year done today
We meet today To thank Thee for the era done, And Thee for the opening one.
beauty color lost
Beauty seen is never lost, God's colors all are fast.
death art hands
The dreariest spot in all the land to Death they set apart; with scanty grace from Nature's hand, and none from that of Art.
sleep school play
Oh, for boyhood's painless play, sleep that wakes in laughing day, health that mocks the doctor's rules, knowledge never learned of schools.
beauty real heart
Oh, talk as we may of beauty as a thing to be chiselled from marble or wrought out on canvas, speculate as we may upon its colors and outlines, what is it but an intellectual abstraction, after all? The heart feels a beauty of another kind; looking through the outward environment, it discovers a deeper and more real love-liness.
simple duty
Simple duty hath no place for fear.