Nicole Somma Poem OR 3

Nicole Somma

Poem

Outside Reading 3

One of my favorite subject we have discussed was poetry. I can read poetry all day and not get sick of it. One of my favorite transcendentalist is Henry David Thoreau. He has many different poems that relate to nature and society, but one of my personal favorites is Pray to What Earth. This is also the poem I brought to class. This poem makes Thoreau's love for nature very evident. It is describing a the natural world during winter. He is discussing how even during the winter, their is hints of summer. His over arching thought from this poem is the earth is the only thing that asks nothing of you, unlike society which is constantly asking for something,  and you receive nothing in return.

Pray to What Earth 

Henry David Thoreau

Pray to what earth does this sweet cold belong,

Which asks no duties and no conscience?

The moon goes up by leaps, her cheerful path

In some far summer stratum of the sky,

While stars with their cold shine bedot her way.

The fields gleam mildly back upon the sky,

And far and near upon the leafless shrubs

The snow dust still emits a silver light.

Under the hedge, where drift banks are their screen,

The titmice now pursue their downy dreams,

As often in the sweltering summer nights

The bee doth drop asleep in the flower cup,

When evening overtakes him with his load.

By the brooksides, in the still, genial night,

The more adventurous wanderer may hear

The crystals shoot and form, and winter slow

Increase his rule by gentlest summer means