19th-century-poets-from-the-united-states

"Like the sweet melody which faintly lingers Upon the wind-harp's strings at close of day, When gently touch'd by evening's dewy fingers It breathes a low and melancholy lay; So the calm voice of sympathy meseemeth; And while its magic spell is round me cast, My spirit in its cloistered silence dreameth, And vaguely blends the future with the past."

"The charm of eloquence, — the skill To wake each secret string, And from the bosom's chords at will Life's mournful music bring, — The o'ermastering strength of mind, which sway The haughty and the free, Whose might earth's mightiest one obeys, These, — these were given to thee."

"The gathered rose, and the stolen heart, Can charm but for a day."

"Weep not for those Who sink within the arms of death Ere yet the chilling wintry breath Of sorrow o'er them blows; But weep for them who here remain, The mournful heritors of pain, Condemn'd to see each bright joy fade, And mark grief's melancholy shade Flung o'er Hope's fairest rose."

"There dwelleth in the sinlessness of youth A sweet rebuke that vice may not endure."

"Oh never yet did Peace her chaplet twine, To lay upon base Mammon’s sordid shrine, Where Earth’s most precious things are bought and sold; Thrown on that pile, the "pearl of price" would be Despised, because unfit for merchantry."

"Number the riches by thy memory hoarded, Relics of joys thy by-past years have known, — How many real things has life afforded? How much true light was o'er thy pathway thrown?"

"— The grave's dark portal Soon shuts this world of shadows from our view, Then shall we grasp realities immortal, If to the truth within us we are true."

"Like lamps in Eastern sepulchres, Amid my heart’s deep gloom, Affection sheds its holiest light Upon my husband’s tomb. And, as those lamps, if brought once more To upper air grow dim, So my soul’s love is cold and dead, Unless it glow for him."

"Sorrow treads heavily, and leaves behind A deep impression e’en when she departs; While joy trips by, with steps light as the wind, And scarcely leaves a trace upon our hearts Of the faint footfalls, only this is sure — In this world nought, save suffering can endure."

"Peace, sweet Peace, is always found In her eternal home on holy ground."

"When the glad sun, exulting in his might, Comes from the dusky-curtain'd tents of night."

"Since the men from a party or fear of a frown, Are kept by a sugar-plum quietly down, Supinely asleep—and depriv'd of their sight, Are stipp'd of their freedom, and robb'd of their right; If the sons, so degenerate! the blessings despise, Let the Daughters of Liberty nobly arise; And though we've no voice but a negative here, The use of the taxables, let us forbear:— (Then merchants import till your stores are all full, May the buyers be few, and your traffic be dull!) Stand firmly resolv'd, and bid Grenville to see, That rather than freedom we part with our tea."

"O, beautiful rainbow, All woven of light! There's not in thy tissue, One shadow of night:— It seems as heav'n opened, When thou dost appear, And a visible presence Of angels drew near, And sung the rainbow, The rainbow— The smile of God is here."

"This is a speculating and selfish age; and to think "money will answer all things," is too much the characteristic of Americans."

"Let no one understand me as speaking lightly of that Catechism. It was framed by good men, and doubtless with the best intentions. But there can be no perfect system of faith as expounded by men; and there should be no creed which requires the human mind to render its unqualified assent before it has examined and reflected."

"You may indulge any childish propensity with less injury to the intellect than that of gluttony. Eating to excess constantly will deaden or destroy the energies of the mind, while those of the animal are increased, till the immortal becomes perfectly swinish—and yet many tender, delicate mothers seem to think, that to make their children eat is all that is requisite to make them great."

"Though youth be past and beauty fled, The constant heart its pledge redeems, Like Box that guards the flowerless bed And brighter from the contrast seems."

"Crackers toasted or hard bread may be added a short time before the soup is wanted; but do not put in those libels on civilized cookery, called dumplings! One might about as well eat, with the hope of digesting, a brick from the ruins of Babylon, as one of the hard, heavy masses of boiled dough which usually pass under this name."

"The most welcome guest in society will ever be the one to whose mind every thing is a suggestion, and whose words suggest something to everybody."

"Americans have two ardent passions; the love of liberty, and love of distinction. These passions mutually stimulate and increase each other ; the enjoyment of equal rights as citizens giving every man a chance of becoming eminent, and that eminence being derived from living under a free government, the Americans are thus necessarily as ambitious of fame as they are tenacious of freedom."

"A day of bliss is quickly told, A thousand would not make us old As one of sorrow doth— It is by cares, by woes and tears, We round the sum of human years——"

"It requires but a few threads of hope, for the heart that is skilled in the secret, to weave a web of happiness."

"And you each gentle animal In confidence may bind, And make them follow at your call, If you are always kind."

"There are few sensations more painful than in the midst of deep grief, to know the season which we have always associated with mirth and rejoicing is at hand."

"There is small danger of being starved in our land of plenty; but the danger of being stuffed is imminent, and yet hardly a thought is bestowed on the subject by those who direct the public sentiment."

"Mary had a little lamb, Its fleece was white as snow, And every where that Mary went The lamb was sure to go."

"It is a bad business, dealing in lottery tickets...Riches got in such a hasty manner never wear well."

"What a ready passport wealth gives its possessor to the good opinions of this world!"

"A few hundred dollars will dry the weeping eyes of the most despairing damsel, and make her think the defection of her plighted swain a very lucky speculation—and so instead of breaking her own heart, she very coolly determines to break his credit, comforting herself with the thought that cash is more current than love."

"Why is it that water, so monotonous in its characteristics, should nevertheless, possess a charm for every mind? I believe it is chiefly because it bears the impress of the Creator, which we feel neither the power of time or of man can efface or alter."

"The sun, this old November, Across the sodden slope, May bid the heart remember, But cannot bid it hope."

"New friends forbear, and let old friends remember With pity him who ends his course to-day; Nor heap with scorn his grave in dead December Whose life bore golden promises in May."

"Her husband requested she would read, and she determined to read; her husband wished her to talk, and she resolved to talk. ... Then she had the habit into which your poor conversationalists usually fall, namely, asking questions."

"Some one has called flowers the poetry of earth. They are only its Lyrical poetry. Water is the grand Epic of creation; and there is not a human soul but feels the influence of its majesty, its power or its beauty."

"Woman's empire, holier, more refined, Moulds, moves and sways the fall'n but God-breathed mind, Lifting the earth-crushed heart to hope and heaven."

"What matter though the scorn of fools be given, If the path followed lead us on to heaven!"

"Oh! wondrous power, how little understood, Entrusted to the Mother's mind alone To fashion genius, form the soul for good, Inspire a West, or train a Washington!"

"Where wildness has been wilderness shall be, But give God time; and life is but a span, Nine inches, while before it and behind Stretches the garden of the cosmic gods."

""Something in the sense of morning Lifts the heart up to the sun." In our youth we may be pagan, God is many, and the One Great Supreme will wait till evening When our little day is done."

"Lighter than dandelion down, Or feathers from the white moth’s wing, Out of the gates of bramble-town The silkweed goes a-gypsying."

"Thou hoarse Aristophanic mime, Grotesque Silenus of the slime, That dar'st to lift a comic voice Where thrushes worship and rejoice."

"All that I intended was, that self-control, in every station and to every individual, is indispensable, if people would retain that equanimity of mind, which depending on self-respect, is the essential of contentment and happiness."

"In this age of innovation, perhaps no experiment will have an influence more important on the character and happiness of our society, than the granting to females the advantages of ... education. The honor of this triumph ... belongs to the men of America. They appear willing to risk the hazard of proving, experimentally, whether that degree of literature, which only can qualify woman to become ... an instructive as well as agreeable friend, be compatible with the cheerful discharge of her domestic duties, and that delicacy of feeling, and love of retirement, which nature so obviously imposes on the sex."

"Readers soon tire of prefaces, and skip them, and so the labor of writing them is lost."

"There is no influence so powerful as that of the mother. ... But next in rank and efficacy to that pure and holy source of moral influence, is that of the schoolmaster."

"Happiness is, in truth, a very cheap thing when the heart will be contented to traffic with nature—art has quite a different price."

"Riches are always overestimated; the enjoyment they give is more in the pursuit than the possession."

"Mr. and Mrs. R. persuaded themselves that, while they kept the Sabbath day with pharisaical strictness, the other six days were their own. They strove for earth and sighed for heaven, and failed of enjoyment in the pursuit of either."

"Hail, Holy Day! the blessing from above Brightens thy presence like a smile of love, Smoothing, like oil upon a stormy sea, The roughest waves of human destiny— Cheering the good, and to the poor oppressed Bearing the promise of their heavenly rest."