Chapter I: Keep Wondering

I saw a mountain,
And he was like Wotan looking at himself in the water.
I saw a cockatoo,
And he was like sunset clouds.
Even leaves and little stones
Are different to my eyes sometimes.
I keep wondering through and through my heart
Where all the beautiful things in the world
Come from.
And while I wonder
They go on being beautiful.

A SELECTED BIBLIOGRAPHY

The following twelve volumes deal, in considerable detail, with many of the poets, groups and tendencies considered in this collection. A few treat principally of the period between 1860 and 1890; the majority, however, reflect the shifting course of contemporary poetry. Most of the dozen contain liberal quotations, references, illustrative poems and suggestions for supplementary reading.

AIKEN, CONRAD. _Scepticisms: Notes on Contemporary Poetry._ Alfred A.
Knopf. 1919.

BOYNTON, PERCY H. _A History of American Literature._ Ginn and
Company. 1919.

BROOKS, VAN WYCK. _America’s Coming of Age._ (Chapters II and III.) B.
W. Huebsch. 1915.

EASTMAN, MAX. _Enjoyment of Poetry._ Charles Scribner’s Sons. 1913.

LOWELL, AMY. _Tendencies in Modern American Poetry._ The Macmillan
Company. 1917.

LOWES, JOHN LIVINGSTON. _Convention and Revolt in Poetry._ Houghton
Mifflin Company. 1919.

MONROE, HARRIET, and ALICE CORBIN HENDERSON. _The New Poetry—An
Anthology._ The Macmillan Company. 1917.

MORRIS, LLOYD R. _The Young Idea (An Anthology of Opinion)._ Duffield
and Company. 1917.

PATTEE, FRED LEWIS. _A History of American Literature Since 1870._ The
Century Company. 1915.

RITTENHOUSE, JESSIE B. _The Younger American Poets._ (1860 to 1900).
Little, Brown and Company. 1904.

UNTERMEYER, LOUIS. _The New Era in American Poetry._ Henry Holt and
Company. 1919.

WILKINSON, MARGUERITE. _New Voices._ The Macmillan Company. 1919.

INDEX

_Names of Authors are in Capitals. Titles of Poems are in Italics._

_A. E. F._, 204

ADAMS, FRANKLIN P., 237-240

AIKEN, CONRAD, xliii, 358-366

ALDRICH, T. B., 7-10

_Anne Rutledge_, 123

_Apple Tree Said, The_, 385

_At Midnight_, 76

_At the Aquarium_, 285

_At the Crossroads_, 92

_Autumn_, 316, 372

_Bacchus_, 76

_Ballad For Gloom_, 303

_Banty Tim_, 13

_Battle-Song of Failure_, 209

_Beauty_, 339

_Beclouded_, 7

_Before Dawn in the Woods_, 280

_Behold the Deeds of Mrs. Jones!_, 66

BENÉT, STEPHEN VINCENT, 393-394

BENÉT, WILLIAM ROSE, 331-337

_Between Two Loves_, 136

_Bindlestiff_, 130

_Birches_, 189

_Bird and the Tree, The_, 171

_Black Sheep_, 88

_Black Vulture, The_, 107

_Blades of Grass, The_, 129

_Blessing the Dance_, 56

_Blue Island Intersection_, 202

BODENHEIM, MAXWELL, 369-371

BRANCH, ANNA HEMPSTEAD, 157-162

BRODY, ALTER, 390-392

_Builder, The_, 355

BUNNER, H. C., 63-68

BURR, AMELIA J., 209

BURTON, RICHARD, 87-88

_By the Pacific Ocean_, 23

BYNNER, WITTER, 243-248

“_Byron_,” _From_, 25

CABELL, JAMES BRANCH, 213-216

_Caliban in the Coal Mines_, 309

_Canopus_, 101

CARMAN, BLISS, xxvii-xxviii, 82-87

CARRYL, CHARLES EDWARD, 33-37

CARRYL, GUY WETMORE, 142-150

CAWEIN, MADISON, 97-100

_Cemetery, A_, 6

_Chance Meetings_, 360

_Chartless_, 4

_City Park_, 391

CLARK, BADGER, 276-280

_Clean Curtains_, 203

CLEGHORN, SARAH N., 194-195

_Coming to Port_, 284

_Congo, The_, 221

_Conservative, A_, 78

_Cool Tombs_, 198

CONKLING, GRACE HAZARD, 207-209

CONKLING, HILDA, 394-397

_Coquette Conquered_, _A_, 140

CORBIN, ALICE, xli, 258-261

_Coyote, The_, 279

CRANE, STEPHEN, 126-129

CRAPSEY, ADELAIDE, 205-207

_Creeds_, 356

CROMWELL, GLADYS, 298-300

_Crossing the Plains_, 24

_Crowning Gift, The_, 299

CURRAN, EDWIN, 371-373

_Cry of the People_, 241

“D., H.,” xxxviii, 327-330

_Daisies_, 87

DALY, T. A., 133-137

_Dare You?_, 26

_Dark Hills, The_, 119

DAVIES, MARY CAROLYN, 384-385

_Dawn_, 78, 322

_Dawns_, 271

_Day Before April, The_, 384

_Death_, 370

_Death of a Child, The_, 389

_Death of the Hired Man, The_, 181

_Dedication_, 213

_Desert, The_, 54

_Deserted_, 100

DEUTSCH, BABETTE, 388-390

DICKINSON, EMILY, xlv, 3-7

_Discovered_, 141

_Drug Clerk, The_, 291

DUNBAR, PAUL LAURENCE, 137-142

_Dust, The_, 70

_Δωρια_, 305

_Eagle that Is Forgotten, The_, 219

_Earth_, 89

EASTMAN, MAX, 283-286

_Echoes of Childhood_, 258

_Elf and the Dormouse, The_, 90

ELIOT, T. S., 356, 358

“_Enamored Architect of Airy Rhyme_,” 9

ERSKINE, JOHN, 212-213

_Factories_, 350

_Fanatic, The_, 388

FICKE, ARTHUR DAVISON, 273-275

FIELD, EUGENE, xxv, 42-46

FLETCHER, JOHN GOULD, xxxviii, 319-327

_Fog_, 199

_Fragmentary Blue_, 191

_Free Fantasia on Japanese Themes_, 167

_From a Chinese Vase_, 386

FROST, ROBERT, xxxiii-xxxv, xliii, 174-192

_Frost on a Window_, 208

“_Frost To-Night_,” 61

_Frustrate_, 368

_Fulfilled Dream, The_, 360

_Fust Banjo, De_, 58

_Ghetto, From the_, 262

_Ghetto Twilight_, 392

_Gift of God, The_, 112

GILMAN, CHARLOTTE P. S., 78-80

GIOVANNITTI, ARTURO, 286-289

_Girl, A_, 302

_Glory Trail, The_, 276

_God’s World_, 374

_Golden Haired Girl_, _To a_, 229

_Good-Bye and Keep Cold_, 187

GORMAN, HERBERT S., 387

_Grass_, 205

_Grass-Tops_, 244

_Gravedigger, The_, 83

GUINEY, LOUISE IMOGEN, 80-81

_Halcyon Days_, 236

_Hands_, 312

HARTE, BRET, xviii, xxiv-xxv, xl, 15-21

HAY, JOHN, xviii, xxiv, 10-15

_Hay-Cock_, 396

_Heat_, 329

HELTON, ROY, 346

_Hem and Haw_, 86

_Her Eyes_, 272

HERFORD, OLIVER, 89-90

_High Tide_, 315

_Hours_, 285

HOVEY, RICHARD, xxvii-xxviii, 91-96

_How Are You, Dear World?_, 72

_How a Cat Was Annoyed and a Poet Was Booted_, 147

_How Jack Found that Beans May Go Back on a Chap_, 143

_How He Turned Out_, 234

_How to Catch Unicorns_, 336

_Humiliation_, 386

_Hymn_, 128

_“I Have a Rendezvous with Death,”_ 353

_I Keep Wondering_, 397

_Image of Delight, The_, 193

IMAGISTS, THE, xxxvii-xxxix

_Immortal Love_, 62

_Improvisation_, 272

_In a Museum_, 390

_Incentive, The_, 195

_Indian Summer_, 4

_In Passing_, 346

_Interpreter, The_, 348

_I Saw a Man_, 127

_I Shall Go Back_, 382

_I Shall Not Care_, 296

_Ivy_, 77

JENNINGS, LESLIE NELSON, 368

_Jetsam, From_, 103

“_Jim_,” 16

_Jim Bludso_, 11

JOHNS, ORRICK, 348-349

KEMP, HARRY, 281-283

KILMER, JOYCE, 340-343

KNIBBS, H. H., xli, 150-157

KREYMBORG, ALFRED, 269-273

_Lady, A_, 166

_Lake Song_, 318

LANIER, SIDNEY, 27-33

LEONARD, WILLIAM ELLERY, 193-194

_Lethe_, 330

_Let Me Live Out My Years_, 242

_Lincoln_, 323

_Lincoln, A Farmer Remembers_, 245

_Lincoln Child, The_, 252

_Lincoln, The Man of the People_, 51

_Lincoln Walks at Midnight_, 232

LINDSAY, VACHEL, xli-xlii, 217-233

_Little Boy Blue_, 44

_Little Things_, 349

_London Nightfall_, 221

_Long Hill, The_, 296

_Love and Liberation_, 339

_Love in the Winds_, 95

_Love Song from New England_, 387

_Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock, From the_, 357

LOWELL, AMY, xxxviii 162-170

_Lucinda Matlock_, 122

_Madonna of the Evening Flowers_, 169

_Man Hunt, The_, 98

_Man with the Hoe, The_, 49

_Maple Leaves_, 9

MARKHAM, EDWIN, xxx, 47-53

MARQUIS, DON, 211

_Marshes of Glynn, From the_, 32

_Martin_, 342

_Master, The_, 114

_Master Mariner, The_, 108

MASTERS, EDGAR LEE, xxxiii, 119-126

_Meeting-House Hill_, 165

_Memory_, 8

_Mending Wall_, 177

_Merchants from Cathay_, 331

_Mia Carlotta_, 135

MILLAY, EDNA ST. V., xliii, 373-383

MILLER, JOAQUIN, xxv, 21-25

_Miniver Cheevy_, 111

_Miracles_, 363

_Modern Woman to Her Lover, The_, 352

_Monk in the Kitchen, The_, 158

MOODY, WILLIAM VAUGHN, xxix, 102-107

MORLEY, CHRISTOPHER, 367

_Morning at the Window_, 357

_Morning Song from “Senlin,”_ 364

MORTON, DAVID, 346-348

_Most-Sacred Mountain, The_, 290

_Mould, The_, 300

_Negro Sermon, A_, 230

NEIHARDT, JOHN G., 240-243

_New Orleans_, 265

_Night_, 335

_Night and Day_, 31

_Night Note_, 257

_Night Song at Amalfi_, 294

_Nirvana_, 340

_Nocturne in a Deserted Brickyard_, 205

_November Night_, 206

_O My Dead Comrade_, 74

_Old Age_, 370

_Old Bridge, The_, 396

_Old Manuscript_, 270

_Old Ships_, 347

_Old Story, An_, 117

_On a Soldier Fallen in the Philippines_, 105

_One End of Love_, 215

_On Seeing Weather-Beaten Trees_, 207

_Onset, The_, 192

OPPENHEIM, JAMES, xlii, 248-258

_Oread_, 328

O SHEEL, SHAEMAS, 344

_Our Two Opinions_, 43

_Outwitted_, 48

_Painted Hills of Arizona, The_, 372

_Pandora’s Song_, 104

_Parting Guest, A_, 41

_Pear Tree_, 329

_Pear Tree, The_, 383

_Penury_, 100

_Pessimist and Optimist_, 10

_Peter Quince at the Clavier_, 266

_Petit, The Poet_, 121

_Phantasy of Heaven, A_, 282

PIPER, EDWIN FORD, 129-133

_Pitcher of Mignonette_, A, 68

_Pity Me Not_, 382

_Plain Language from Truthful James_, 19

_Plaint of the Camel, The_, 34

_Poet to His Love_, 369

_Portrait of a Boy_, 393

_Portrait of an Old Woman_, 274

POUND, EZRA, xxxviii, 300-305

_Prelude_, 358

_Preparedness_, 51

_Quickening_, 367

_Railway Train, The_, 6

REESE, LIZETTE WOODWORTH, 69-70

_Renascence_, 375

_Richard Cory_, 117

_Rich Man, The_, 238

RIDGE, LOLA, 262-265

_Robinson Crusoe’s Story_, 35

ROBINSON, E. A., xxxii, 109-119

ROBINSON, EDWIN MEADE, 234-237

_Roll a Rock Down_, 153

_Runaway, The_, 188

_Runner in the Skies, The_, 250

RUSSELL, IRWIN, xxvi, 55-60

RILEY, JAMES WHITCOMB, xviii, xli, 38-41

SANDBURG, CARL, xxxv-xxxvii, 196-205

SARETT, LEW, xli

_Searchlights_, 391

_Sea-Scapes_, 214

SEEGER, ALAN, 352-354

_Seein’ Things_, 45

_Shake, Mulleary and Go-ethe_, 64

SHERMAN, FRANK D., 75-78

_Side Street, A_, 312

_Silence_, 123

SILL, EDWARD ROWLAND, xxv, 25-27

_Simon Legree_, 230

_Sinfonia Domestica_, 317

_Skaters, The_, 327

_Slave, The_, 250

_Smoke and Steel, From_, 199

_Snow_, 98

_Solitaire_, 165

_Solitude_, 26

_Son, The_, 173

_Song of Sunrise, A_, 63

_Song of the Chattahoochee_, 29

_Song of the Thrush, The_, 134

_Sonnet_, 275

_Spicewood_, 70

_Spring Night_, 295

_Station of the Metro, In a_, 305

_Stein Song, A_, 95

STERLING, GEORGE, 107-109

STEVENS, WALLACE, 266-269

_Street Lamps_, 282

_Summons_, 307

_Sunday Evening in the Common_, 338

_Sunrise_, 53

_Survival of the Fittest, The_, 195

_Suspense_, 5

_Swan, The_, 320

_Sweetgrass Range_, 132

_Swimmers_, 309

_Sycophantic Fox and the Gullible Raven, The_, 145

_Symbols_, 347

_Tasting the Earth_, 251

TAYLOR, BERT L., 101-102

_Tears_, 69

TEASDALE, SARA, xliii, 293-298

_They Went Forth to Battle but They Always Fell_, 344

THOMAS, EDITH M., 60-61

_Those Two Boys_, 239

_Three Sisters, The_, 275

TIETJENS, EUNICE, 289-293

_Tired_, 298

TORRENCE, RIDGELY, 171-173

_Trail-Makers, The_, 155

_Train-Mates_, 246

TRAUBEL, HORACE, 71-75

_Traveller, The_, 229

_Trees_, 341

_Triad_, 207

_Tuft of Flowers, The_, 178

_Turning of the Babies in the Bed, The_, 138

_Two Dyings, The_, 351

_Unmanifest Destiny_, 94

_Unrest_, 211

UNTERMEYER, JEAN STARR, 314, 319

UNTERMEYER, LOUIS, 305-313

_Vagabond Song, A_, 83

_Vain Gratuities_, 118

_Valley that God Forgot, The_, 151

_Victor, To the_, 194

_Virginal, A_, 303

_Voices_, 244

_Walker, From the_, 287

_War and Peace_, 238

_Warning, The_, 207

_Water_, 395

_Water Lilies_, 297

WATTLES, WILLARD, 354-356

_Wayfarer, The_, 128

WELLES, WINIFRED, 385-387

WHEELOCK, JOHN HALL, 337-340

_When I am Dead_, 241

“_When the Frost Is on the Punkin_,” 39

_While Loveliness Goes By_, 162

WHITMAN, WALT, xviii, xxi-xxiv, xliv, 71

_Whole Duty of Berkshire Brooks, The_, 208

WIDDEMER, MARGARET, 350-352

_Wild Ride, The_, 81

_Wild Swans_, 383

WILKINSON, MARGUERITE, 280

_Wind and Silver_, 170

_Wind in the Alleys_, 265

WOOD, C. E. S., 53-55

WOODBERRY, GEORGE E., 61-63

-----

Footnote 1:

See _Modern British Poetry_, pages xi-xiii.

Footnote 2:

Permission to reprint this poem was granted by the Harr Wagner
Publishing Co., San Francisco, California, publishers of Joaquin
Miller’s Complete Poetical Works.

Footnote 3:

Permission to reprint this poem was granted by the Harr Wagner
Publishing Co., San Francisco, California, publishers of Joaquin
Miller’s Complete Poetical Works.

Footnote 4:

From _Poems of Sidney Lanier_. Copyright, 1884, 1891, 1916, by Mary D.
Lanier; published by Charles Scribner’s Sons. By permission of the
publishers.

Footnote 5:

From _Poems of Sidney Lanier_. Copyright, 1884, 1891, 1916, by Mary D.
Lanier; published by Charles Scribner’s Sons. By permission of the
publishers.

Footnote 6:

From _Poems of Sidney Lanier_. Copyright, 1884, 1891, 1916, by Mary D.
Lanier; published by Charles Scribner’s Sons. By permission of the
publishers.

Footnote 7:

From the Biographical Edition of the _Complete Works of James Whitcomb
Riley_. Copyright, 1913. Used by special permission of the publishers,
The Bobbs-Merrill Company.

Footnote 8:

From the Biographical Edition of the _Complete Works of James Whitcomb
Riley_. Copyright, 1913. Used by special permission of the publishers,
The Bobbs-Merrill Company.

Footnote 9:

Reprinted from _The Complete Works of Eugene Field_ by permission of
Charles Scribner’s Sons, holders of the copyright.

Footnote 10:

Reprinted from _The Complete Works of Eugene Field_ by permission of
Charles Scribner’s Sons, holders of the copyright.

Footnote 11:

Reprinted from _The Complete Works of Eugene Field_ by permission of
Charles Scribner’s Sons, holders of the copyright.

Footnote 12:

Revised version, 1920. Copyright by Edwin Markham.

Footnote 13:

See pages 114, 123, 232, 245, 252, 323.

Footnote 14:

Reprinted, by permission, from _Poems_ by H. C. Bunner. Copyright,
1899, by Charles Scribner’s Sons.

Footnote 15:

Reprinted from _The Bashful Earthquake_ by Oliver Herford. Copyright,
1898, by Charles Scribner’s Sons.

Footnote 16:

Taken by permission from _The Vale of Tempe_ by Madison Cawein.
Copyright, 1905, by E. P. Dutton and Co., New York.

Footnote 17:

Reprinted by permission of the publishers, Charles Scribner’s Sons,
from _The Town down the River_ by E. A. Robinson.

Footnote 18:

Reprinted by permission of the publishers, The Macmillan Company, from
_The Man Against the Sky_ by E. A. Robinson.

Footnote 19:

See pages 51, 123, 232, 245, 252, 323.

Footnote 20:

Reprinted by permission of the publishers, Charles Scribner’s Sons,
from _The Town down the River_ by E. A. Robinson.

Footnote 21:

Reprinted by permission of the publishers, Charles Scribner’s Sons,
from _The Children of the Night_.

Footnote 22:

Reprinted by permission of the publishers, The Macmillan Company, from
_Spoon River Anthology_ by Edgar Lee Masters.

Footnote 23:

Reprinted by permission of the publishers, The Macmillan Company, from
_Spoon River Anthology_ by Edgar Lee Masters.

Footnote 24:

See pages 51, 114, 232, 245, 252, 323.

Footnote 25:

Reprinted by permission of the publishers, The Macmillan Company, from
_Spoon River Anthology_ by Edgar Lee Masters.

Footnote 26:

Reprinted by permission of the publishers, The Macmillan Company, from
_Songs and Satires_ by Edgar Lee Masters.

Footnote 27:

From _Lyrics of Love and Laughter_. Copyright, 1903, by Dodd, Mead &
Company.

Footnote 28:

From _Lyrics of Lowly Life_. Copyright, 1896, by Dodd, Mead & Company.

Footnote 29:

From _Lyrics of Lowly Life._ Copyright, 1896, by Dodd, Mead & Company.

Footnote 30:

Reprinted by permission of the publishers, The Macmillan Company, from
_Pictures of the Floating World_ by Amy Lowell.

Footnote 31:

Reprinted by permission of the publishers, The Macmillan Company, from
_Sword Blades and Poppy Seed_ by Amy Lowell.

Footnote 32:

Reprinted by permission of the publishers, The Macmillan Company, from
_Pictures of the Floating World_ by Amy Lowell.

Footnote 33:

Reprinted by permission of the publishers, The Macmillan Company, from
_Pictures of the Floating World_ by Amy Lowell.

Footnote 34:

Reprinted by permission of the publishers, The Macmillan Company, from
_General William Booth Enters into Heaven and Other Poems_ by Vachel
Lindsay.

Footnote 35:

Reprinted by permission of the publishers, The Macmillan Company, from
_The Congo and Other Poems_ by Vachel Lindsay.

Footnote 36:

See pages 51, 114, 123, 245, 252, 323.

Footnote 37:

Reprinted by permission of the publishers, The Macmillan Company, from
_The Chinese Nightingale and Other Poems_ by Vachel Lindsay.

Footnote 38:

Reprinted by permission of the publishers, The Macmillan Company, from
_The Quest_ by John G. Neihardt.

Footnote 39:

Reprinted by permission of the publishers, The Macmillan Company, from
_The Quest_ by John G. Neihardt.

Footnote 40:

See pages 51, 114, 123, 232, 252, 323.

Footnote 41:

Reprinted by permission from _Grenstone Poems_ by Witter Bynner.
Copyright, 1917, by Frederick A. Stokes Company.

Footnote 42:

Reprinted by permission from _Grenstone Poems_ by Witter Bynner.
Copyright, 1917, by Frederick A. Stokes Company.

Footnote 43:

See pages 51, 114, 123, 232, 245, 323.

Footnote 44:

From _Sun and Saddle Leather_ by Badger Clark. Copyright, 1915.
Richard G. Badger, Publisher.

Footnote 45:

From _Grass-Grown Trails_ by Badger Clark. Copyright, 1917. Richard G.
Badger, Publisher.

Footnote 46:

Reprinted by permission of the publishers, The Macmillan Company, from
_Love Songs_ by Sara Teasdale.

Footnote 47:

Reprinted by permission of the publishers, The Macmillan Company, from
_Rivers to the Sea_ by Sara Teasdale.

Footnote 48:

Reprinted by permission of the publishers, The Macmillan Company, from
_Love Songs_ by Sara Teasdale.

Footnote 49:

Reprinted by permission of the publishers, The Macmillan Company, from
_Flame and Shadow_ by Sara Teasdale.

Footnote 50:

Reprinted by permission of the publishers, The Macmillan Company, from
_Flame and Shadow_ by Sara Teasdale.

Footnote 51:

Reprinted by permission of the publishers, The Macmillan Company, from
_Poems_ by Gladys Cromwell.

Footnote 52:

Reprinted by permission of the publishers, The Macmillan Company, from
_Poems_ by Gladys Cromwell.

Footnote 53:

See pages 51, 114, 123, 232, 245, 252.

Footnote 54:

From _Moons of Grandeur_ by William Rose Benét. Copyright, 1920,
George H. Doran Company, Publishers.

Footnote 55:

From _Trees and Other Poems_ by Joyce Kilmer. Copyright, 1914, by
George H. Doran Company, Publishers.

Footnote 56:

From _Trees and Other Poems_ by Joyce Kilmer. Copyright, 1914, by
George H. Doran Company, Publishers.

Footnote 57:

Reprinted, by permission, from _Poetry: A Magazine of Verse_.

Footnote 58:

From _Poems_ by Alan Seeger. Copyright, 1916, by Charles Scribner’s
Sons. By permission of the publishers.

Footnote 59:

Taken by permission from _Lanterns in Gethsemane_ by Willard Wattles.
Copyright, 1918, by E. P. Dutton & Co., New York.

Footnote 60:

From _Hide and Seek_ by Christopher Morley. Copyright, 1920. George H.
Doran Company, Publishers.

Footnote 61:

From _The Sonnet_. Copyright, 1918, by Mahlon Leonard Fisher.

Footnote 62:

Reprinted by permission of the Publishers, The Macmillan Company. From
_Youth Riding_ by Mary Carolyn Davies.

Footnote 63:

Reprinted by permission of the publishers, The Macmillan Company. From
_Youth Riding_ by Mary Carolyn Davies.

Footnote 64:

From _Banners_ by Babette Deutsch. Copyright, 1919. George H. Doran
Co., Publishers.

------------------------------------------------------------------------

TRANSCRIBER’S NOTES

1. P. 378–380, one of the poems (Renascence) was different in the two otherwise identical editions, so both sets of pages were included. See the second set below. 2. Silently corrected typographical errors and variations in spelling. 3. Retained anachronistic, non-standard, and uncertain spellings as printed. 4. Enclosed italics font in _underscores_. 5. Enclosed bold font in =equals=.

=Renascence= fragment mentioned above

And so beneath the weight lay I
And suffered death, but could not die.

Deep in the earth I rested now;
Cool is its hand upon the brow
And soft its breast beneath the head
Of one who is so gladly dead.
And all at once, and over all,
The pitying rain began to fall;
O God, I cried, give me new birth,
And put me back upon the earth!
Upset each cloud’s gigantic gourd
And let the heavy rain, down-poured
In one big torrent, set me free,
Washing my grave away from me!

I ceased; and, through the breathless hush
That answered me, the far-off rush
Of herald wings came whispering
Like music down the vibrant string
Of my ascending prayer, and—crash!
Before the wild wind’s whistling lash
The startled storm-clouds reared on high
And plunged in terror down the sky,
And the big rain in one black wave
Fell from the sky and struck my grave.

I know not how such things can be
I only know there came to me
A fragrance such as never clings
To aught save happy living things;
A sound as of some joyous elf
Singing sweet songs to please himself,
And, through and over everything,
A sense of glad awakening.
The grass, a tip-toe at my ear,
Whispering to me I could hear;
I felt the rain’s cool finger-tips
Brushed tenderly across my lips,
Laid gently on my sealèd sight,
And all at once the heavy night
Fell from my eyes and I could see,—
I lay and heard each pattering hoof
Upon my lowly, thatchèd roof,
And seemed to love the sound far more
Than ever I had done before.
For rain it hath a friendly sound
To one who’s six feet underground;
And scarce the friendly voice or face:
A grave is such a quiet place.

The rain, I said, is kind to come
And speak to me in my new home.
I would I were alive again
To kiss the fingers of the rain,
To drink into my eyes the shine
Of every slanting silver line,
To catch the freshened, fragrant breeze
From drenched and dripping apple-trees.
For soon the shower will be done,
And then the broad face of the sun
Will laugh above the rain-soaked earth
Until the world with answering mirth
Shakes joyously, and each round drop
Rolls, twinkling, from its grass-blade top.
How can I bear it; buried here,
While overhead the sky grows clear
And blue again after the storm?
O, multi-colored, multiform,
Beloved beauty over me,
That I shall never, never see
Again! Spring-silver, autumn-gold,
That I shall never more behold!
Sleeping your myriad magics through,
Close-sepulchred away from you!
A drenched and dripping apple-tree,
A last long line of silver rain,
A sky grown clear and blue again.
And as I looked a quickening gust
Of wind blew up to me and thrust
Into my face a miracle
Of orchard-breath, and with the smell,—
I know not how such things can be!—
I breathed my soul back into me.
Ah! Up then from the ground sprang I
And hailed the earth with such a cry
As is not heard save from a man
Who has been dead, and lives again.
About the trees my arms I wound;
Like one gone mad I hugged the ground;

End of Project Gutenberg's Modern American Poetry, by Louis Untermeyer