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Classic and Contemporary Poetry
OUR AUTOCRAT, by JOHN GREENLEAF WHITTIER Poet Analysis Poet's Biography First Line: His laurels fresh from song and lay Last Line: And he himself is only ours! Subject(s): Holmes, Oliver Wendell (1809-1894) | |||
HIS laurels fresh from song and lay, Romance, art, science, rich in all, And young of heart, how dare we say We keep his seventieth festival? No sense is here of loss or lack; Before his sweetness and his light The dial holds its shadow back, The charmed hours delay their flight. His still the keen analysis Of men and moods, electric wit, Free play of mirth, and tenderness To heal the slightest wound from it. And his the pathos touching all Life's sins and sorrows and regrets, Its hopes and fears, its final call And rest beneath the violets. His sparkling surface scarce betrays The thoughtful tide beneath it rolled, The wisdom of the latter days, And tender memories of the old. What shapes and fancies, grave or gay, Before us at his bidding come! The Treadmill tramp, the One-Horse Shay, The dumb despair of Elsie's doom! The tale of Avis and the Maid, The plea for lips that cannot speak, The holy kiss that Iris laid On Little Boston's pallid cheek! Long may he live to sing for us His sweetest songs at evening time, And, like his Chambered Nautilus, To holier heights of beauty climb! Though now unnumbered guests surround The table that he rules at will, Its Autocrat, however crowned, Is but our friend and comrade still. The world may keep his honored name, The wealth of all his varied powers; A stronger claim has love than fame, And he himself is only ours! | Discover our Poem Explanations and Poet Analyses!Other Poems of Interest...AN EPISTLE TO DR. OLIVER WENDELL HOLMES; ON HIS 75TH BIRTHDAY by EDMUND WILLIAM GOSSE TO O.W. HOLMES; ON HIS 70TH BIRTHDAY by PAUL HAMILTON HAYNE TO O.W. HOLMES ON HIS SEVENTY-FIFTH BIRTHDAY by JAMES RUSSELL LOWELL OLIVER WENDELL HOLMES by LOUISE CHANDLER MOULTON O. W. HOLMES ON HIS EIGHTIETH BIRTHDAY by JOHN GREENLEAF WHITTIER TO OLIVER WENDELL HOLMES (WHITTIER'S LAST POEM) by JOHN GREENLEAF WHITTIER OLIVER WENDELL HOLMES by WILLIAM HAMILTON HAYNE FILLING AN ORDER by JOHN TOWNSEND TROWBRIDGE AMY WENTWORTH; FOR WILLIAM BRADFORD by JOHN GREENLEAF WHITTIER AN AUTOGRAPH (1) by JOHN GREENLEAF WHITTIER |
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