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THE GLADNESS OF NATURE

WILLIAM CULLEN BRYANT

1

Is this a time to be cloudy and sad,

When our Mother Nature laughs around; When even the deep blue heavens look glad,

And gladness breathes from the blossoming ground?

2

There are notes of joy from the hang-bird and wren,
And the gossip of swallows through all the sky;
The ground-squirrel gayly chirps by his den,
And the wilding bee hums merrily by.

3

The clouds are at play in the azure space,

And their shadows at play on the bright green vale, And here they stretch to the frolic chase, And there they roll on the easy gale.

4

There's a dance of leaves in that aspen bower,

There's a titter of winds in that beechen tree, There's a smile on the fruit, and a smile on the flower, And a laugh from the brook that runs to the sea.

5

And look at the broad-faced sun, how he smiles
On the dewy earth that smiles in his ray,
On the leaping waters and gay young isles;
Ay, look, and he'll smile thy gloom away.

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gay'-ly-with mirth and frolic; in a gay manner.

asp'-en (ǎs'-pen)—a kind of poplar tree, the leaves of which quiver or move by a very slight current of air.

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John Greenleaf Whittier (1807-1892) was a native of Haverhill, Massachusetts. He attended the district school, but his parents were too poor to send him to college. He was patriotic, fond of children, and of nature. He is called the "Quaker Poet."

1

It was late in mild October, and the long autumnal rain
Had left the summer harvest-fields all green with grass again;
The first sharp frosts had fallen, leaving all the woodlands gay
With the hues of summer's rainbow, or the meadow flowers of May.

2

Through a thin, dry mist, that morning, the sun rose broad and red,

At first a rayless disk of fire, he brightened as he sped;
Yet, even his noontide glory fell chastened and subdued,
On the cornfields and the orchards, and softly pictured wood.

3

And all that quiet afternoon, slow sloping to the night,
He wove with golden shuttle the haze with yellow light;
Slanting through the painted beeches, he glorified the hill;
And, beneath it, pond and meadow lay brighter, greener still.

4

And shouting boys in woodland haunts caught glimpses of that sky,

Flecked by the many-tinted leaves, and laughed, they knew not

why;

And school-girls, gay with aster-flowers, beside the meadow brooks,

Mingled the glow of autumn with the sunshine of sweet looks.

5

From spire and barn, looked westerly the patient weathercocks; But even the birches on the hill stood motionless as rocks.

No sound was in the woodlands, save the squirrel's dropping shell,

And the yellow leaves among the boughs, low rustling as they fell.

6

The summer grains were harvested; the stubble-fields lay dry, Where June winds rolled, in light and shade, the pale green

waves of rye;

But still, on gentle hill-slopes, in valleys fringed with wood,

Ungathered, bleaching in the sun, the heavy corn crop stood.

7

Bent low, by autumn's wind and rain, through husks that, dry

and sere, Unfolded from their ripened charge, shone out the yellow ear;

Beneath, the turnip lay concealed, in many a verdant fold,
And glistened in the slanting light the pumpkin's sphere of gold.

8

There wrought the busy harvester; and many a creaking wain Bore slowly to the long, barn-floor its load of husk and grain; Till broad and red, as when he rose, the sun sank down, at last, And like a merry guest's farewell, the day in brightness passed.

9

And lo! as through the western pines, on meadow, stream, and pond,

Flamed the red radiance of a sky, set all afire beyond,

Slowly o'er the eastern sea-bluffs a milder glory shone,
And the sunset and the moonrise were mingled into one!

10

As thus into the quiet night the twilight lapsed away,

And deeper in the brightening moon the tranquil shadows lay; From many a brown old farm-house, and hamlet without name, Their milking and their home-tasks done, the merry huskers

came.

11

Swung o'er the heaped-up harvest, from pitchforks in the mow,
Shone dimly down the lanterns on the pleasant scene below;
The glowing pile of husks behind, the golden ears before,
And laughing eyes and busy hands and brown cheeks glimmering
o'er.

12

Half hidden in a quiet nook, serene of look and heart,
Talking their old times over, the old men sat apart;

While, up and down the unhusked pile, or nestling in its shade, At hide-and-seek, with laugh and shout, the happy children played.

13

Urged by the good host's daughter, a maiden young and fair, Lifting to light her sweet blue eyes and pride of soft brown hair, The master of the village school, sleek of hair and smooth of tongue,

To the quaint tune of some old psalm, a husking-ballad sung.

HELPS TO STUDY

Notes and Questions

What had the frost done that made the woodlands gay? What words in the second stanza make you feel that the wood was some distance away?

To whom does "he" in the third stanza refer?

What words in the second stanza explain the word "haze' in the third stanza?

What gave the beeches the ap

pearance of being painted? Where did the girls find the aster-flowers?

What do you think was the reason the boys laughed when they looked up to the sky?

Read lines from the fifth stanza which tell that there was no wind.

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What does the second stanza tell about the summer grains? What "summer grain" is mentioned in this stanza? What crop was still ungathered? Where were the harvesters at work?

What was it that set the sky "all afire beyond?"

What was the "milder glory" which shone as the sun was setting?

Why does Whittier speak of the farm-houses as "brown" (stanza ten)?

Where did the husking take place?

What tells you this?

How did the old men spend the evening?

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