Theodore Harding Rand

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Rating: 4.33

Theodore Harding Rand Poems

A mossy footfall in this wood
A peal of thunder were,
Or autumn tempest-shriek, compared
With the unwhispered stir
...

O soul, that art essential change,
Bickering beams, a flutter strange,
Lightning of thought and gust of passion,
A silver thread in this mountain range;
...

Fair spirit of the plaining sea,
Thou heard'st Apollo's lyre! -
Now folded are thy silver wings
Thee sunward bore,
A dream and a desire.
...

A death-like dew was falling
On the herbs and the grassy ground;
The stars to their bournes prest forward,
Night cloaked the hills around.
...

Silent, with hands crost meekly on his breast,
Long time, with keen and meditative eye,
Stood the old painter of Siena by
A canvas, whose sign manual him confest.
...

O come, unpack the heart of care!
Kingcups sun the meadows o'er,
The yellowbugle sudden blows
By the river's tidal flows,
And the heavens are bare.
...

In summer's dreary ear, as suns go by
Whose yellow beams are dulled with langorous motes,
The deep vibrations of the cosmic notes
...

Dim name, yet grand, that ever winks serene
In the red fagot's light, and like a ghost
Hovers above these raucous tides, this coast,
...

The fitful rustle of the sea-green leaves
Tells of the homeward tide, and free-blown air
Upturns thy gleaming leafage like a share-
...

As comes amain the glossy flying raven,
That with unwavering wing, breast on the view,
Cleaves slow the lucid air beneath the blue,
And seems scarce other than a figure graven -
...

The lithe wind races and sings
Over the grasses and wheat -
See the emerald floor as it springs
To the touch of invisible feet!
...

I would enshrine in silvern song
The charm that bore our souls along,
As in the sun-flushed days of summer
We felt the pulsings of nature's throng;
...

'Only a penny, Sir! '
A child held to my view
A bunch of 'glory-roses,' red
As blood, and wet with dew.
...

Earth's manifold noises break
Overhead, in the calm,
In unison full, and wake
The note of a psalm.
...

Shy bird of the silver arrows of song,
That cleave our Northern air so clear,
Thy notes prolong, prolong,
I listen, I hear:
'I - love - dear - Canada,
Canada, Canada.'
...

Theodore Harding Rand Biography

Theodore Harding Rand (8 February 1835 – 29 May 1900) was a Canadian educator and poet. Rand was born in Cornwallis, Nova Scotia in 1835. A Baptist, Rand attended Acadia College in Wolfville, Nova Scotia, which had been founded by the Baptist community in 1838. Rand graduated from Acadia College in 1860. Upon graduation, Rand became Professor of Classics at the Provincial Normal School in Truro, Nova Scotia. Working at a normal school (which was charged with training future teachers), Rand soon developed an interest in education policy. He became interested in the common school movement and traveled to Great Britain and the United States to study the common school phenomenon. He began to advocate common schools for Nova Scotia, and produced writings and lectures on the topic. Rand's advocacy proved successful in 1864 when the government of Nova Scotia, led by Conservative Premier Charles Tupper passed legislation creating a common school system for Nova Scotia. Tupper appointed Rand as Nova Scotia's first Superintendent of Education, and in this capacity, Rand oversaw the creation of Nova Scotia's public education system. In 1871, the Province of New Brunswick, under the leadership of Liberal-Conservative Premier George E. King, passed the Common Schools Act which created a series of common schools in New Brunswick. Upon King's invitation, Rand became New Brunswick's first Superintendent of Education and oversaw the creation of public education in New Brunswick. Rand continued his own education during this time, receiving his D.C.L. from Acadia College in 1874. Rand left the world of public education in 1883 when he became Professor of History and Didactics at Acadia College. In 1885, he moved to Toronto to take a position at the Toronto Baptist College (created in 1881 through funding provided by William McMaster). In 1886, he moved to Woodstock, Ontario to become college president of the Baptist Woodstock College. In 1890, the Baptist Convention of Ontario and Quebec voted to merge Toronto Baptist College and Woodstock College - the merged university was named McMaster University in honour of William McMaster's financial support. Rand served as chancellor of McMaster University from 1892 to 1895.)

The Best Poem Of Theodore Harding Rand

Repose

A mossy footfall in this wood
A peal of thunder were,
Or autumn tempest-shriek, compared
With the unwhispered stir
Of massy fluids lift in air,
To build these leafy pillars fair.

Lavished at wordless wish or mute
Command, the chemic wealth
Upsprings to meet the builders' hands,
All hushed as dusky stealth.
Noiseless as love, as silent prayer
Mysterious, the builders are.


Ah, sure, these silences are works
Of God's sabbatic rest,
A music perfect as the calm
Of wave's unbroken crest!
These woven leaves that stilly nod,
These violets, ope their eyes on God.

The deep serene that worketh here
Works, too, 'mid human tears;
A thousand years as one day is,
One day a thousand years.
Fell death still thunders at his task,
But death the peace of God doth mask.

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