O garden isle, beloved by Sun and Sea, Whose bluest billows kiss thy curving bays, Whose light infolds thy hills with golden rays, Filling with fruit each dark-leaved orange-tree, What hidden hatred hath the Earth for thee, That once again, in these dark, dreadful days, Breaks forth in trembling rage, and swiftly lays Thy beauty […]

The land was broken in despair, The princes quarrelled in the dark, When clear and tranquil, through the troubled air Of selfish minds and wills that did not dare, Your star arose, Jeanne d’Arc. O virgin breast with lilies white, O sun-burned hand that bore the lance, You taught the prayer that helps men to […]

Count not the cost of honour to the dead! The tribute that a mighty nation pays To those who loved her well in former days Means more than gratitude for glories fled; For every noble man that she hath bred, Lives in the bronze and marble that we raise, Immortalised by art’s immortal praise, To […]

(Presbyter of Christ in America, 1683-1708) To thee, plain hero of a rugged race, We bring the meed of praise too long delayed! Thy fearless word and faithful work have made For God’s Republic firmer resting-place In this New World: for thou hast preached the grace And power of Christ in many a forest glade, […]

This is the soldier brave enough to tell The glory-dazzled world that ‘war is hell’: Lover of peace, he looks beyond the strife, And rides through hell to save his country’s life. April, 1904.

‘Tis fine to see the Old World, and travel up and down Among the famous palaces and cities of renown, To admire the crumbly castles and the statues of the kings,– But now I think I’ve had enough of antiquated things. So it’s home again, and home again, America for me! My heart is turning […]

ODE FOR THE HUNDRED AND FIFTIETH ANNIVERSARY OF PRINCETON COLLEGE October 21, 1896 I Into the dust of the making of man Spirit was breathed when his life began, Lifting him up from his low estate, With masterful passion, the wish to create. Out of the dust of his making, man Fashioned his works as […]

ODE FOR THE HUNDREDTH ANNIVERSARY OF LAWRENCEVILLE SCHOOL June 11, 1910 I The British bard who looked on Eton’s walls, Endeared by distance in the pearly gray And soft aerial blue that ever falls On English landscape with the dying day, Beheld in thought his boyhood far away, Its random raptures and its festivals Of […]

A DEMOCRATIC ODE [1] I THE WILD-BEES All along the Brazos river, All along the Colorado, In the valleys and the lowlands Where the trees were tall and stately, In the rich and rolling meadows Where the grass was full of wild-flowers, Came a humming and a buzzing, Came the murmur of a going To […]

PHI BETA KAPPA ODE HARVARD UNIVERSITY June 30, 1910 I All day long in the city’s canyon-street, With its populous cliffs alive on either side, I saw a river of marching men like a tide Flowing after the flag: and the rhythmic beat Of the drums, and the bugles’ resonant blare Metred the tramp, tramp, […]

Ye gods of battle, lords of fear, Who work your iron will as well As once ye did with sword and spear, With rifled gun and rending shell,– Masters of sea and land, forbear The fierce invasion of the inviolate air! With patient daring man hath wrought A hundred years for power to fly; And […]

O Lord our God, Thy mighty hand Hath made our country free; From all her broad and happy land May praise arise to Thee. Fulfill the promise of her youth, Her liberty defend; By law and order, love and truth, America befriend! The strength of every State increase In Union’s golden chain; Her thousand cities […]

Avalon, February 22, 1920. June, 1914 In the pleasant time of Pentecost, By the little river Kyll, I followed the angler’s winding path Or waded the stream at will, And the friendly fertile German land Lay round me green and still. But all day long on the eastern bank Of the river cool and clear, […]

“Will you go to war just for a scrap of paper?”–Question of the German Chancellor to the British Ambassador, August 5, 1914. A mocking question! Britain’s answer came Swift as the light and searching as the flame. “Yes, for a scrap of paper we will fight Till our last breath, and God defend the right! […]

(1915) “Lights out” along the land, “Lights out” upon the sea. The night must put her hiding hand O’er peaceful towns where children sleep, And peaceful ships that darkly creep Across the waves, as if they were not free. The dragons of the air, The hell-hounds of the deep, Lurking and prowling everywhere, Go forth […]

Stand fast, Great Britain! Together England, Scotland, Ireland stand One in the faith that makes a mighty land,– True to the bond you gave and will not break And fearless in the fight for conscience’ sake! Against the Giant Robber clad in steel, With blood of trampled Belgium on his heel, Striding through France to […]

“God said I am tired of kings.”–EMERSON. God said, “I am tired of kings,”– But that was a long while ago! And meantime man said, “No,– I like their looks in their robes and rings.” So he crowned a few more, And they went on playing the game as before, Fighting and spoiling things. Man […]

If Might made Right, life were a wild-beasts’ cage; If Right made Might, this were the golden age; But now, until we win the long campaign, Right must gain Might to conquer and to reign. July 1, 1915.

Peace without Justice is a low estate,– A coward cringing to an iron Fate! But Peace through Justice is the great ideal,– We’ll pay the price of war to make it real. December 28, 1916.

O Music hast thou only heard The laughing river, the singing bird, The murmuring wind in the poplar-trees,– Nothing but Nature’s melodies? Nay, thou hearest all her tones, As a Queen must hear! Sounds of wrath and fear, Mutterings, shouts, and moans, Madness, tumult, and despair,– All she has that shakes the air With voices […]