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Whither, midst falling dew,
While glow the heavens with the last steps of day,
Far through their rosy depths dost thou pursue
Thy solitary way?
Vainly the fowler’s eye
Might mark thy distant flight to do thee wrong.
As, darkly painted on the crimson sky,
Thy figure floats along.
Seek’st thou the plashy brink
Of weedy lake, or marge of river wide,
Or where the rocking billows rise and sink
On the chafed ocean-side?
There is a Power whose care
Teaches thy way along that pathless coast —
The desert and illimitable air —
Lone wandering, but not lost.
All day thy wings have fanned,
At that far height, the cold, thin atmosphere;
Yet stoop not, weary, to the welcome land.
Though the dark night is near.
And soon that toil shall end;
Soon shalt thou find a summer home, and rest,
And scream among thy fellows; reeds shall bend
Soon o’er thy sheltered nest.
Thou’rt gone; the abyss of heaven
Hath swallowed up thy form; yet on my heart
Deeply hath sunk the lesson thou hast given,
And shall not soon depart.
He who from zone to zone
Guides through the boundless sky thy certain flight,
In the long way that I must tread alone
Will lead my steps aright.
(William Cullen Bryant )
William Cullen Bryant (1794-1878), the first great American poet,was born in western Massachusetts and educated in the district school. At home he had the use of his father’s library, an exceptionally fine one, and he made the most of its advantages. In 1816 he journeyed on foot to Plainfield,Massachusetts, to look for a place to open a law office. He felt forlorn and desolate, and the world seemed big and cold. On his way he paused, impressed by the beauty of the sunset, and saw a solitary wild-fowl wing its way along the horizon until it was lost in the distance. He went on with new courage,and when he stopped for the night, he sat down and wrote this beautiful poem of faith and hope, “To a Waterfowl.” Many of his best poems were inspired by Nature or one of Nature’s creatures.
Bryant soon gave up the study of law to devote himself to his literary work.In addition to writing poetry, he was editor of the New York Evening Post,one of America’s greatest newspapers. His long life was full of usefulness and happiness. Bryant had the gift of seeing that the commonest things about him were interesting and worth while. He died in 1878, one of the most loved of American poets.
plashy : wet
marge : poetic for margin
Answer the following questions.
1) What were the circumstances under which this poem was written?
2) How does the poet speak of the sunset?
3) What can we tell about the poet when he stops to enjoy the sunset and watch the bird?
4) What was the appearance of the bird against the sky?
5) How does the thought that the bird is guided help the poet?
6) What comparison does he make between his life and the flightof the bird?