The Poetical Works of Oliver Wendell Holmes in Three Volumes, Volume 1Houghton, Mifflin, 1891 |
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Common terms and phrases
arms beneath BERKSHIRE blaze blue blush breast breath bright brow burning calomel CHARLES WENTWORTH UPHAM cheek circling band crown dark dead dear Doctor dream dust earth echoes eyes fading fair faith flame flow flower folds friends gleam glistening glory glow golden grave green hand harmonious band hear heart Heaven hills hour Katydid leaves life's lift light lips living look lyre meadows starred morning mountain nursling o'er ocean once pale peaceful percussion cap PHI BETA KAPPA rescued band rills ring Rip Van Winkle rolling rose round shade shadows shine shore sigh silent sing skies sleep slumbering smile song soul spread star stethoscope strain stream sweet swell tears tell thee thine thou throbbing toil Toll the bell tongue trembling turn voice wandering warm waves wedded crowns whisper wild wings young
Popular passages
Page 2 - The mossy marbles rest On the lips that he has prest In their bloom; And the names he loved to hear Have been carved for many a year On the tomb.
Page 245 - The wild-flowers who will stoop to number ? A few can touch the magic string, And noisy Fame is proud to win them : — Alas for those that never sing, But die with all their music in them I Nay, grieve not for the dead alone Whose song has told their hearts...
Page 3 - And if I should live to be The last leaf upon the tree In the spring, Let them smile, as I do now, At the old forsaken bough Where I cling.
Page 12 - Two towels and a spoon." They braced my aunt against a board, To make her straight and tall ; They laced her up, they starved her down, To make her light and small ; They pinched her feet, they singed her hair, They screwed it up with pins ; — Oh never mortal suffered more...
Page 31 - He took the paper, and I watched, And saw him peep within; At the first line he read, his face Was all upon the grin. He read the next; the grin grew broad, And shot from ear to ear; He read the third; a chuckling noise I now began to hear. The fourth; he broke into a roar; The fifth; his waistband split; The sixth; he burst five buttons off, And tumbled in a fit. Ten days and nights, with sleepless eye, I watched that wretched man, And since, I never dare to write As funny as I can.
Page 252 - Then mark the cloven sphere that holds All thought in its mysterious folds, That feels sensation's faintest thrill And flashes forth the sovereign will ; Think on the stormy world that dwells Locked in its dim and clustering cells ! The lightning gleams of power it sheds Along its hollow glassy threads...
Page 66 - Tell to our sons how their fathers have died " ; Nerveless the iron hand, Raised for its native land, Lies by the weapon that gleams at its side. Over the hillsides the wild knell is tolling, From their far hamlets the yeomanry come; As through the storm-clouds the thunder-burst rolling, Circles the beat of the mustering drum. Fast on the soldier's path Darken the waves of wrath, Long have they gathered and loud shall they fall ; Red glares the musket's flash, Sharp rings the rifle's crash, Blazing...
Page 195 - ... its dark ravines, — True to their home, these faithful arms shall toil To crown with peace their own untainted soil ; And, true to God, to freedom, to mankind, If her chained bandogs Faction shall unbind, These stately forms, that bending even now Bowed their strong manhood to the humble plough, Shall rise erect, the guardians of the land, The same stern iron in the same right hand, Till o'er their hills the shouts of triumph run, The sword has rescued what the ploughshare won...
Page 252 - By myriad rings in trembling chains, Each graven with the threaded zone Which claims it as the master's own. See how yon beam of seeming white Is braided out of seven-hued light, Yet in those lucid globes no ray By any chance shall break astray. Hark how the rolling surge of sound, Arches and spirals circling round, Wakes the hushed spirit through thine ear With music it is heaven to hear.
Page 80 - COME back to your mother, ye children, for shame, Who have wandered like truants for riches or fame ! With a smile on her face, and a sprig in her cap, She calls you to feast from her bountiful lap.