An Observation by Henry David Thoreau: "We too have our thaws. . . . "

On this day in 1854, Henry David Thoreau wrote the following observation in his journal:

We too have our thaws. They come to our January moods, when our ice cracks, and our sluices break loose. Thought that was frozen up under stern experience gushes forth in feeling and expression.

Source: Daily Observations: Thoreau on the Days of the Year (2005), edited by Steve Grant

Henry David Thoreau (1817-1862)

"The Raven" by Edgar Allan Poe

On this day in 1845, according to the Associated Press, "Edgar Allan Poe's famous narrative poem 'The Raven' ('Once upon a midnight dreary, while I pondered weak and weary . . . ') was first published in the New York Evening Mirror."

Read "The Raven" by Edgar Allan Poe >>

Edgar Allan Poe (1809-1849)

"Eldorado" by Edgar Allan Poe

Here is a poem by Edgar Allan Poe (1809-1849) about a knight's search for the legendary place named Eldorado.


ELDORADO

   Gaily bedight,
   A gallant knight,
In sunshine and in shadow,
   Had journeyed long,
   Singing a song,
In search of Eldorado.

   But he grew old --
   This knight so bold --
And o'er his heart a shadow
   Fell as he found
   No spot of ground
That looked like Eldorado.

   And, as his strength
   Failed him at length,
He met a pilgrim shadow --
   "Shadow," said he,
   "Where can it be --
This land of Eldorado?"

   "Over the mountains
   Of the moon,
Down the Valley of the Shadow,
   Ride, boldly ride,"
   The shade replied, --
"If you seek for Eldorado."

Illustration by

William Heath Robinson

Dreams and Deeds

Here is a poem about the continuing Christ. It is a prayer of hope.


DREAMS AND DEEDS
by John Hunter

Dear Master, in Whose life I see
All that I long and fail to be;
Let Thy clear light forever shine
To shame and guide this life of mine.

Though what I dream and what I do
In my poor days are always two,
Help me, oppressed by things undone,
O Thou, Whose dreams and deeds were one.


Source of this poem, which is in the public domain: Christ in Poetry (1952), an anthology compiled and edited by Thomas Curtis Clark and Hazel Davis Clark