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An Artist Of The Beautiful

By John Greenleaf Whittier

Topics: classic

George Fuller     Haunted of Beauty, like the marvellous youth     Who sang Saint Agnes' Eve! How passing fair     Her shapes took color in thy homestead air!     How on thy canvas even her dreams were truth!     Magician! who from commonest elements     Called up divine ideals, clothed upon     By mystic lights soft blending into one     Womanly grace and child-like innocence.     Teacher I thy lesson was not given in vain.     Beauty is goodness; ugliness is sin;     Art's place is sacred: nothing foul therein     May crawl or tread with bestial feet profane.     If rightly choosing is the painter's test,     Thy choice, O master, ever was the best

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"George Fuller..."

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Author:John Greenleaf Whittier

"George Fuller..." by John Greenleaf Whittier

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"The Text is taken from Percy's Reliques (1765), vol. i. p. 71, 'given from two MS. copies, transmitted from Scotland.' Herd had a very similar bal"

John Greenleaf Whittier

About John Greenleaf Whittier

John Greenleaf Whittier (1807–1892) was an American Quaker poet and abolitionist whose poems—including "Snow-Bound" and "Barbara Frietchie"—celebrate New England life and moral courage. He was one of the Fireside Poets and a leading voice against slavery.

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"Gallery of sacred pictures manifold,     A minster..."

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