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The Trailing Arbutus

By John Greenleaf Whittier

Topics: classic

I wandered lonely where the pine-trees made     Against the bitter East their barricade,     And, guided by its sweet     Perfume, I found, within a narrow dell,     The trailing spring flower tinted like a shell     Amid dry leaves and mosses at my feet.     From under dead boughs, for whose loss the pines     Moaned ceaseless overhead, the blossoming vines     Lifted their glad surprise,     While yet the bluebird smoothed in leafless trees     His feathers ruffled by the chill sea-breeze,     And snow-drifts lingered under April skies.     As, pausing, oer the lonely flower I bent,     I thought of lives thus lowly, clogged and pent,     Which yet find room,     Through care and cumber, coldness and decay,     To lend a sweetness to the ungenial day     And make the sad earth happier for their bloom.

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"I wandered lonely where the pine-trees made..."

Exploring the themes of classic, John Greenleaf Whittier delivers a powerful performance in "The Trailing Arbutus"... ### Why We Love This Line At Linespedia, we believe that poetry is the ultimate sanctuary for the soul...

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Author:John Greenleaf Whittier

"I wandered lonely where the pine-trees made..." by John Greenleaf Whittier

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"The Text is taken from Percy's Reliques (1765), vol. i. p. 71, 'given from two MS. copies, transmitted from Scotland.' Herd had a very similar bal"

John Greenleaf Whittier

About John Greenleaf Whittier

John Greenleaf Whittier (1807–1892) was an American Quaker poet and abolitionist whose poems—including "Snow-Bound" and "Barbara Frietchie"—celebrate New England life and moral courage. He was one of the Fireside Poets and a leading voice against slavery.

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"Gallery of sacred pictures manifold,     A minster..."

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