Setting Poetry
"Concord Hymn"
by Ralph Waldo Emerson Sung at the Completion of the Battle Monument, July 4, 1837 By the rude bridge that arched the flood, Their flag to April’s breeze unfurled, Here once the embattled farmers stood And fired the shot heard round the world. The foe long since in silence slept; Alike the conqueror silent sleeps; And Time the ruined bridge has swept Down the dark stream which seaward creeps. On this green bank, by this soft stream, We set today a votive stone; That memory may their deed redeem, When, like our sires, our sons are gone. Spirit, that made those heroes dare To die, and leave their children free, Bid Time and Nature gently spare The shaft we raise to them and thee. Note: Emerson lived in Concord, MA near the battlefield where "the shot heard round the world" began the Revolutionary War.
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“A Green Cornfield”
by Christina Georgina Rossetti The earth was green, the sky was blue: I saw and heard one sunny morn A skylark hang betweent he two, A singing speck above the corn; A stage below, in gay accord, White butterflies danced on the wing, And still the singing skylark soared, And silent sank and soared to sing. The cornfield stretched a tender green To right and left beside my walks; I knew he had a nest unseen Somewhere among the million stalks. And as I paused to hear his song While swift the sunny moments slid, Perhaps his mate sat listening long, And listened longer than I did. Note: Rossetti's lyric poem takes place in the English countryside.
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"This Is the Key"
by Anonymous This is the Key of the Kingdom: In that Kingdom is a city, In that city is a town, In that town is a street, In that street there winds a lane, In that lane there is a yard, In that yard there is a house, In that house there waits a room, In that room an empty bed, And on that bed a basket-- A Basket of Sweet Flowers: Of Flowers, of Flowers, A basket of Sweet Flowers. Flowers in a Basket, Basket on the bed, Bed in the chamber, Chamber in the house, House in the weedy yard, Yard in the winding lane, Lane in the broad street, Street in the high town, Town in the city, City in the Kingdom-- This is the Key of the Kingdom. |