(17 December 1807 – 7 September 1892 / Haverhill, Massachusetts)

poet John Greenleaf Whittier
#117 on top 500 poets

Quotations

  • ''How dwarfed against his manliness
    She sees the poor pretension,
    The wants, the aims, the follies, born
    Of fashion and convention!''
    John Greenleaf Whittier (1807-1892), U.S. poet. "Among the Hills."
    44 person liked.
    		17 person did not like.
  • ''Give fools their gold, and knaves their power;
    Let fortune's bubbles rise and fall;
    Who sows a field, or trains a flower,
    Or plants a tree, is more than all.''
    John Greenleaf Whittier (1807-1892), U.S. poet. A Song of Harvest.
    57 person liked.
    		16 person did not like.
  • ''Through this broad street, restless ever,
    Ebbs and flows a human tide,
    Wave on wave a living river;
    Wealth and fashion side by side;
    Toiler, idler, slave and master, in the same quick current glide.''
    John Greenleaf Whittier (1807-1892), U.S. poet. At Washington, st. 2.
    28 person liked.
    		13 person did not like.
  • ''She leaned far out on the window-sill,
    And shook it forth with a royal will.

    "Shoot, if you must, this old gray head,
    But spare your country's flag," she said.

    A shade of sadness, a blush of shame,
    Over the face of the leader came;''
    John Greenleaf Whittier (1807-1892), U.S. poet. Barbara Frietchie (l. 33-38). . . Oxford Book of American Light Verse, The. William Harmon, ed. (1979) Oxford University Press.
    41 person liked.
    		12 person did not like.
  • ''Up rose old Barbara Frietchie then,
    Bowed with her fourscore years and ten;

    Bravest of all in Frederick town,
    She took up the flag the men hauled down;''
    John Greenleaf Whittier (1807-1892), U.S. poet. Barbara Frietchie (l. 17-20). . . Oxford Book of American Light Verse, The. William Harmon, ed. (1979) Oxford University Press.
    6 person liked.
    		3 person did not like.
  • ''"Who touches a hair of yon gray head
    Dies like a dog! March on!" he said''
    John Greenleaf Whittier (1807-1892), U.S. poet. Barbara Frietchie (l. 41-42). . . Oxford Book of American Light Verse, The. William Harmon, ed. (1979) Oxford University Press.
    7 person liked.
    		2 person did not like.
  • ''Up from the meadows rich with corn,
    Clear in the cool September morn,''
    John Greenleaf Whittier (1807-1892), U.S. poet. Barbara Frietchie (l. 1-2). . . Oxford Book of American Light Verse, The. William Harmon, ed. (1979) Oxford University Press.
    7 person liked.
    		2 person did not like.
  • ''Honor to her! and let a tear
    Fall, for her sake, on Stonewall's bier.

    Over Barbara Frietchie's grave,
    Flag of Freedom and Union, wave!''
    John Greenleaf Whittier (1807-1892), U.S. poet. Barbara Frietchie (l. 53-56). . . Oxford Book of American Light Verse, The. William Harmon, ed. (1979) Oxford University Press.
    6 person liked.
    		2 person did not like.
  • ''All else is gone; from those great eyes
    The soul has fled:
    When faith is lost, when honor dies,
    The man is dead!

    Then, pay the reverence of old days
    To his dead fame;
    Walk backward, with averted gaze,
    And hide the shame!''
    John Greenleaf Whittier (1807-1892), U.S. poet. Ichabod (l. 29-36). . . Oxford Book of American Verse, The. F. O. Matthiessen, ed. (1950) Oxford University Press.
    6 person liked.
    		1 person did not like.
  • ''So fallen! so lost! the light withdrawn
    Which once he wore!
    The glory from his gray hairs gone
    Forevermore!''
    John Greenleaf Whittier (1807-1892), U.S. poet. Ichabod (l. 1-4). . . Oxford Book of American Verse, The. F. O. Matthiessen, ed. (1950) Oxford University Press.
    3 person liked.
    		3 person did not like.

Read more quotations »

The Pumpkin

Oh, greenly and fair in the lands of the sun,
The vines of the gourd and the rich melon run,
And the rock and the tree and the cottage enfold,
With broad leaves all greenness and blossoms all gold,
Like that which o'er Nineveh's prophet once grew,
While he waited to know that his warning was true,
And longed for the storm-cloud, and listened in vain
For the rush of the whirlwind and red fire-rain.

Read more »
[Hata Bildir]