James Russell Lowell Poems on Night (45 Poems)

Fitz Adam’s Story (James Russell Lowell Poems)

The next whose fortune ’twas a tale to tellWas one whom men, before they thought, loved well,And after thinking wondered why they did,For half he seemed to let them, half forbid,And wrapped him so in humors, sheath on sheath,‘Twas hard … Continue reading →

Heartsease And Rue: Friendship (James Russell Lowell Poems)

I.AGASSIZ Come Dicesti _egli ebbe?_ non viv’ egli ancora? Non fiere gli occhi suoi lo dolce lome? I The electric nerve, whose instantaneous thrillMakes next-door gossips of the antipodes,Confutes poor Hope’s last fallacy of ease,–The distance that divided her from … Continue reading →

Mr. Hosea Biglow’s Speech In March Meeting (James Russell Lowell Poems)

I don’t much s’pose, hows’ever I should plen it,I could git boosted into th’ House or Sennit,–Nut while the twolegged gab-machine’s so plenty,‘nablin’ one man to du the talk o’ twenty;I’m one o’ them thet finds it ruther hardTo mannyfactur’ … Continue reading →

Birdofredum Sawin; Esq., To Mr. Hosea Biglow (2) (James Russell Lowell Poems)

I hed it on my min’ las’ time, when I to write ye started,To tech the leadin’ featurs o’ my gittin’ me convarted;But, ez my letters hez to go clearn roun’ by way o’ Cuby,‘Twun’t seem no staler now than … Continue reading →

Birdofredum Sawin, Esq., To Mr. Hosea Biglow (1) (James Russell Lowell Poems)

It’s some consid’ble of a spell sence I hain’t writ no letters,An’ ther’ ‘s gret changes hez took place in all polit’cle metters:Some canderdates air dead an’ gone, an’ some hez ben defeated,Which ‘mounts to pooty much the same; fer … Continue reading →

Mason And Slidell: A Yankee Idyll (James Russell Lowell Poems)

TO THE EDITORS OF THE ATLANTIC MONTHLYI love to start out arter night’s begun,An’ all the chores about the farm are done,The critters milked an’ foddered, gates shet fast,Tools cleaned aginst to-morrer, supper past.An’ Nancy darnin’ by her ker’sene lamp,–I … Continue reading →

Pictures From Appledore (James Russell Lowell Poems)

I A heap of bare and splintery cragsTumbled about by lightning and frost,With rifts and chasms and storm-bleached jags,That wait and growl for a ship to be lost;No island, but rather the skeletonOf a wrecked and vengeance-smitten one,Where, aeons ago, … Continue reading →

An Ode For The Fourth Of July (James Russell Lowell Poems)

Entranced I saw a vision in the cloudThat loitered dreaming in yon sunset sky,Full of fair shapes, half creatures of the eye,Half chance-evoked by the wind’s fantasyIn golden mist, an ever-shifting crowd:There, ‘mid unreal forms that came and wentIn air-spun … Continue reading →

An Oriental Apologue (James Russell Lowell Poems)

Somewhere in India, upon a time,(Read it not Injah, or you spoil the verse,) There dwelt two saints whose privilege sublimeIt was to sit and watch the world grow worse, Their only care (in that delicious clime)At proper intervals to pray and … Continue reading →

Columbus (James Russell Lowell Poems)

The cordage creaks and rattles in the wind,With whims of sudden hush; the reeling seaNow thumps like solid rock beneath the stern,Now leaps with clumsy wrath, strikes short, and, fallingCrumbled to whispery foam, slips rustling downThe broad backs of the … Continue reading →