Book detail: The complete poetical works of John Greenleaf Whittier is presented as a focused source page for quotations connected with this book, collection, transcript, or source record.
The book is a comprehensive compilation of Whittier's poetry, showcasing his work across various themes including nature, social reform, and historical events. Whittier's style is characterized by its simplicity and emotional depth, making it a significant contribution to American literature.
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“The simple heart that freely asks in love, obtains.”
Source: The complete poetical works of John Greenleaf Whittier
“His daily prayer, far better understood in acts than in words, was simply doing good.”
Source: The complete poetical works of John Greenleaf Whittier
“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.”
Source: The complete poetical works of John Greenleaf Whittier
“Romance is always young.”
Source: The complete poetical works of John Greenleaf Whittier
“Along the river's summer walk,
The withered tufts of asters nod;
And trembles on its arid stalk
the hoar plum of the golden-rod.”
Source: The complete poetical works of John Greenleaf Whittier
“Who never wins can rarely lose, Who never climbs as rarely falls”
Source: The complete poetical works of John Greenleaf Whittier
“And close at hand, the basket stood With nuts from brown October's wood. And close at hand, the basket stood With nuts from brown October's wood.”
Source: The complete poetical works of John Greenleaf Whittier
“O Time and change! - with hair as gray as was my sire's that winter day, how strange it seems, with so much gone of life and love, to still live on!”
Source: The complete poetical works of John Greenleaf Whittier
“Oh, for boyhood's painless play, sleep that wakes in laughing day, health that mocks the doctor's rules, knowledge never learned of schools.”
Source: The complete poetical works of John Greenleaf Whittier
“All day the darkness and the cold
Upon my heart have lain
Like shadows on the winter sky
Like frost upon the pane”
Source: The complete poetical works of John Greenleaf Whittier
“Through the dark and stormy night Faith beholds a feeble light Up the blackness streaking; Knowing God's own time is best, In a patient hope I rest For the full day-breaking!”
Source: The complete poetical works of John Greenleaf Whittier
“Before me, even as behind, God is, and all is well.”
Source: The complete poetical works of John Greenleaf Whittier
“Behind the cloud the starlight lurks, Through showers the sunbeams fall; For God, who loveth all his works, Has left his Hope with all.”
Source: The complete poetical works of John Greenleaf Whittier
“We search the world for truth; we cull The good, the pure, the beautiful, From all old flower fields of the soul; And, weary seeker of the best, We come back laden from out quest, To find that all the sages said Is in the Book our mothers read.”
Source: The complete poetical works of John Greenleaf Whittier
“I dimly guess, from blessings known, of greater out of sight.”
Source: The complete poetical works of John Greenleaf Whittier
“If woman lost us Eden, such As she alone restore it.”
Source: The complete poetical works of John Greenleaf Whittier
“With silence only as their benediction, God's angels come Where in the shadow of a great affliction, The soul sits dumb!”
Source: The complete poetical works of John Greenleaf Whittier
“The sun that brief December day Rose cheerless over hills of gray, And, darkly circled, gave at noon A sadder light than waning moon.”
Source: The complete poetical works of John Greenleaf Whittier
“Alas for him who never sees The stars shine through his cypress-trees Who, hopeless, lays his dead away, Nor looks to see the breaking day Across the mournful marbles play!”
Source: The complete poetical works of John Greenleaf Whittier
“Green calm below, blue quietness above.”
Source: The complete poetical works of John Greenleaf Whittier
“So let it be in God's own might We gird us for the coming fight, And, strong in Him whose cause is ours In conflict with unholy powers, We grasp the weapons he has given,-- The Light, and Truth, and Love of Heaven.”
Source: The complete poetical works of John Greenleaf Whittier
“And let these altars, wreathed with flowers And piled with fruits, awake again Thanksgivings for the golden hours, The early and the latter rain!”
Source: The complete poetical works of John Greenleaf Whittier
“Thine to work as well as pray, Clearing thorny wrongs away; Plucking up the weeds of sin, Letting heaven's warm sunshine in.”
Source: The complete poetical works of John Greenleaf Whittier
“Freedom's soil hath only place For a free and fearless race!”
Source: The complete poetical works of John Greenleaf Whittier
“What miracle of weird transforming Is this wild work of frost and light, This glimpse of glory infinite?”
Source: The complete poetical works of John Greenleaf Whittier
“Happy he whose inward ear Angel comfortings can hear, O'er the rabble's laughter; And, while Hatred's fagots burn, Glimpses through the smoke discern Of the good hereafter.”
Source: The complete poetical works of John Greenleaf Whittier
“God blesses still the generous thought,And still the fitting word He speeds,And Truth, at His requiring taught,He quickens into deeds.”
Source: The complete poetical works of John Greenleaf Whittier
“The Beauty which old Greece or RomeSung, painted, wrought, lies close at home.”
Source: The complete poetical works of John Greenleaf Whittier
“Sweeter than any sungMy songs that found no tongue;Nobler than any factMy wish that failed of act.Others shall sing the song,Others shall right the wrong,-Finish what I begin,And all I fail of win.”
Source: The complete poetical works of John Greenleaf Whittier
“Formed on the good old plan, A true and brave and downright honest man! He blew no trumpet in the market-place, Nor in the church with hypocritic face Supplied with cant the lack of Christian grace; Loathing pretence, he did with cheerful will What others talked of while their hands were still.”
Source: The complete poetical works of John Greenleaf Whittier
“The low green tent Whose curtain never outward swings.”
Source: The complete poetical works of John Greenleaf Whittier
“Swan flocks of lilies shoreward lying, In sweetness, not in music, dying.”
Source: The complete poetical works of John Greenleaf Whittier
“Press bravely onward! - not in vainYour generous trust in human kind;The good which bloodshed could not gainYour peaceful zeal shall find.”
Source: The complete poetical works of John Greenleaf Whittier
“Nature speaks in symbols and in signs.”
Source: The complete poetical works of John Greenleaf Whittier
“The Fates are just: they give us but our own; Nemesis ripens what our hands have sown.”
Source: The complete poetical works of John Greenleaf Whittier
“Simple duty hath no place for fear.”
Source: The complete poetical works of John Greenleaf Whittier
“The garden rose may richly bloom In cultured soil and genial air, To cloud the light of Fashion's room Or droop in Beauty's midnight hair, In lonelier grace, to sun and dew The sweetbrier on the hillside shows Its single leaf and fainter hue, Untrained and wildly free, yet still a sister rose!”
Source: The complete poetical works of John Greenleaf Whittier
“Who fathoms the Eternal Thought? Who talks of scheme and plan? The Lord is God! He needeth not The poor device of man.”
Source: The complete poetical works of John Greenleaf Whittier
“Around the mighty master came
The marvels which his pencil wrought,
Those miracles of power whose fame
Is wide as human thought.”
Source: The complete poetical works of John Greenleaf Whittier
“A felon's cell--
The fittest earthly type of hell!”
Source: The complete poetical works of John Greenleaf Whittier
“We shape ourselves the joy or fear
Of which the coming life is made,
And fill our Future's atmosphere
With sunshine or with shade.”
Source: The complete poetical works of John Greenleaf Whittier
“Like warp and woof all destinies
Are woven fast,
Linked in sympathy like the keys
Of an organ vast.
Pluck one thread, and the web ye mar;
Break but one
Of a thousand keys, and the paining jar
Through all will run.”
Source: The complete poetical works of John Greenleaf Whittier
“Somewhat of goodness, something true
From sun and spirit shining through
All faiths, all worlds, as through the dark
Of ocean shines the lighthouse spark,
Attests the presence everywhere
Of love and providential care.”
Source: The complete poetical works of John Greenleaf Whittier
“And I will trust that He who heeds
The life that hides in mead and wold,
Who hangs you alder's crimson beads,
And stains these mosses green and gold,
Will still, as He hath done, incline
His gracious care to me and mine.”
Source: The complete poetical works of John Greenleaf Whittier
“What, my soul, was thy errand here?
Was it mirth or ease,
Or heaping up dust from year to year?
"Nay, none of these!"
Speak, soul, aright in His holy sight,
Whose eye looks still
And steadily on thee through the night;
"To do His will!”
Source: The complete poetical works of John Greenleaf Whittier
“Time is hastening on, and we
What our fathers are shall be,--
Shadow-shapes of memory!
Joined to that vast multitude
Where the great are but the good.”
Source: The complete poetical works of John Greenleaf Whittier
“Truth is one;
And, in all lands beneath the sun,
Whoso hath eyes to see may see
The tokens of its unity.”
Source: The complete poetical works of John Greenleaf Whittier
“Leaning on Him, make with reverent meekness His own thy will.”
Source: The complete poetical works of John Greenleaf Whittier
“Waking or sleeping, I see a wreck,
And hear a cry from a reeling deck!”
Source: The complete poetical works of John Greenleaf Whittier
“Peace hath higher tests of manhood, than battle ever knew.”
Source: The complete poetical works of John Greenleaf Whittier