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Hymn For The Inauguration Of The Statue Of Governor Andrew, Hingham, October 7, 1875

By Oliver Wendell Holmes

Topics: classic

Behold the shape our eyes have known!     It lives once more in changeless stone;     So looked in mortal face and form     Our guide through peril's deadly storm.     But hushed the beating heart we knew,     That heart so tender, brave, and true,     Firm as the rooted mountain rock,     Pure as the quarry's whitest block!     Not his beneath the blood-red star     To win the soldier's envied sear;     Unarmed he battled for the right,     In Duty's never-ending fight.     Unconquered will, unslumbering eye,     Faith such as bids the martyr die,     The prophet's glance, the master's hand     To mould the work his foresight planned,     These were his gifts; what Heaven had lent     For justice, mercy, truth, he spent,     First to avenge the traitorous blow,     And first to lift the vanquished foe.     Lo, thus he stood; in danger's strait     The pilot of the Pilgrim State!     Too large his fame for her alone, -     A nation claims him as her own!

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"Behold the shape our eyes have known!..."

Exploring the themes of classic, Oliver Wendell Holmes delivers a powerful performance in "Hymn For The Inauguration Of The Statue Of Governor Andrew, Hingham, October 7, 1875"... ### Why We Love This Line At Linespedia, we believe that poetry is the ultimate sanctuary for the soul...

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Author:Oliver Wendell Holmes

"Behold the shape our eyes have known!..." by Oliver Wendell Holmes

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Oliver Wendell Holmes

About Oliver Wendell Holmes

Oliver Wendell Holmes Sr. (1809–1894) was an American poet, physician, and essayist. His poems "Old Ironsides" and "The Chambered Nautilus" are American classics. He was part of the Fireside Poets group.

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