Richard Watson Gilder

Richard Watson Gilder Poems

What is a sonnet? 'Tis the pearly shell
That murmurs of the far-off murmuring sea;
A precious jewel carved most curiously;
...

WORDS praising music, what are they but leaves
Whirled round the fountain by the wind that grieves.
Frail human speech falls idly as the snow
...

What is a sonnet? 'Tis the pearly shell
That murmurs of the far-off murmuring sea;
A precious jewel carved most curiously:
...

Glory and honor and fame and everlasting laudation
For our captains who loved not war, but fought for the life of the nation;
...

THIS bronze doth keep the very form and mould
Of our great martyr’s face. Yes, this is he:
That brow all wisdom, all benignity;
...

IF songs were perfume, color, wild desire;
If poet's words were fire
That burned to blood in purple-pulsing veins;
...

O, Father's gone to market-town, he was up before the day,
And Jamie's after robins, and the man is making hay,
...

HER voice was like the song of birds;
Her eyes were like the stars;
Her little waving hands were like
Birds’ wings that beat the bars.
...

A dun, bleak stretch that slants to the salt sea's gray -
Rock-strewn, and scarred by fire, and rough with
stubble,-
With here and there a bold, b ...
...

HE of the ocean is, its thunderous waves
Echo his music; while far down the shore
Mad laughter hurries —a white, blowing spume.
...

The night was dark, though sometimes a faint star
A little while a little space made bright.
The night was dark and still the dawn seemed far,
...

WITHOUT intent, I find a book I've writ
And music is the pleasant theme of it;
For though I can no music make, I trust
...

13.

Following the sun, westward the march of power!
The Rose of Might blooms in our new-world mart:
But see, just bursting forth from bud to flower,
A late, slow growth,- the fairer Rose of Art.
...

I am the spirit of the morning sea;
I am the awakening and the glad surprise;
I fill the skies
With laughter and with light.
...

Wherever are tears and sighs,
Wherever are children's eyes,
Where man calls man his brother,
And loves as himself another,
...

16.

Because the rose must fade,
Shall I not love the rose?
Because the summer shade
Passes when winter blows,
...

17.

NOT from the whole wide world I chose thee,
Sweetheart, light of the land and the sea!
The wide, wide world could not inclose thee,
...

WHEN last I heard the trembling 'cello play,
In every face I saw sad memories
That from dark, secret chambers where they lay
...

THIS night the enchanting musicians rendered a trio of Beethoven,—
Light and lovely, or solemn, as in a Tuscan tower
...

I HEARD the bells of Bethlehem ring—
Their voice was sweeter than the priests’;
I heard the birds of Bethlehem sing
...

Richard Watson Gilder Biography

Gilder was born at Bordentown, New Jersey. He was the son of the Rev. William Henry Gilder, at whose seminary in Flushing, New York, he was educated. He was the brother of William Henry Gilder, Jeannette Leonard Gilder and Joseph Benson Gilder. Gilder studied law at Philadelphia. During the American Civil War, he enlisted in the state's Emergency Volunteer Militia as a private in Landis's Philadelphia Battery at the time of the Robert E. Lee's 1863 invasion of Pennsylvania. After the Confederates were defeated in the Battle of Gettysburg, Gilder and his unit were mustered out in August. With Newton Crane, he founded the Newark Register and later was editor of Hours at Home and edited Scribner's Monthly (afterwards the The Century Magazine). In 1881 he succeeded Dr. Josiah Gilbert Holland as editor in chief of Century, a position he held up to the time of his death. Gilder took an active interest in all public affairs, especially those which tend towards reform and good government, and was a member of many New York clubs. He was one of the founders of the Society of American Architects, of the Authors' Club, and of the International Copyright League. He was a founder of the Anti-Spoils League and a member of the American Academy of Arts and Letters. He was a close friend of George MacDonald, Scottish poet, author, and preacher. They collaborated in various ventures such as MacDonald's American lecture tour in the '70s. Gilder received the degree of LL.D. from Dickinson College in 1883. Gilder's wife, Helena de Kay (1846–1916), was a talented painter and a founder of the Art Students League and Society of American Artists. Their son, Rodman de Kay Gilder (1877–1953), became an author and married Comfort Tiffany, a daughter of Louis Comfort Tiffany. A celebrated plaster sculpture of the family by Augustus Saint-Gaudens is owned by the Metropolitan Museum of Art)

The Best Poem Of Richard Watson Gilder

What Is A Sonnet?

What is a sonnet? 'Tis the pearly shell
That murmurs of the far-off murmuring sea;
A precious jewel carved most curiously;
It is a little picture painted well.
What is a sonnet? 'Tis the tear that fell
From a great poet's hidden ecstasy;
A two-edged sword, a star, a song- Ah me!
Sometimes a heavy-tolling funeral bell.
This was the flame that shook with Dante's breath;
The solemn organ whereon Milton played,
And the clear glass where Shakespeare's shadow falls:
A sea this is- beware who ventureth!
For like a fjord the narrow floor is laid
Mid-ocean deep to the sheer mountain walls.

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