"Twilight" by Fitzgreen Halleck
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"Twilight" by Fitzgreen Halleck
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Transcription of the Poem
Twilight
There is an evening twilight of the heart,
When its wild passion-waves are lull’d
to rest
And the eye sees life’s fairy scenes depart,
As fades the daybeam in the rosy west.
Tis with a nameless feeling of regret
We gaze upon them as they melt away
And fondly would we bid them linger yet,
But Hope is round us with her angel lay,
Waiting after some happier moonlight hour,
Dear are her whispers still, though lost
their early power.
In youth the cheek was crimsoned with
her glow
Her smile was loveliest then, her matin
song
Was heaven’s own music, & the note of wo
Was all unheard her sunny bowers
among.
Life’s little world of bliss was newly born
We knew not, cared not, it was born to die.
Flush’d with the cool breeze and the dews of morn
With dancing heart we gazed on the pure sky
And mocked the passing clouds that dimm’d its
blue,
Like our own sorrows then as fleeting & as few
And manhood felt her sway too—on the eye
Half realized her early dreams burst bright,
Her promised bower of happiness seem’d nigh,
Its days of joy, its vigils of delight,
And tho’ at times might lower the thunderstorms
And the red lightnings threaten; still the air
Was balmy with her breath, and her lov’d form
The rainbow of the heart was hov'ring there
’Tis in life’s noontide she is nearest seen
Her wreath the summer flower her robe the
summer green.
But tho’ less dazzling in her twilight dress
There’s more of Heaven’s pure beam about her
now
That angel smile of tranquil loveliness
Which the heart worships glowing on her brow
That smile shall brighten the dim evening
star
That points our destined tomb, nor e’er
depart
‘Till the faint light of life is fled afar,
And hush’d the last deep beating of
the heart;
The meteor-bearer of our parting
breath,
A moonbeam in the midnight
cloud of death.
Fitzgreen Halleck.
Information About this Poem
Biography of Fitz-Greene Halleck
Formal Elements of the Poem
Explication of the Poem -
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Biography of Fitz-Greene Halleck
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Fitz-Greene Halleck was born on July 8, 1790, in Guilford, Connecticut. The descendant of a long line of Americans dating back to the pilgrims, he was a prominent poet and essayist, heavily influenced by Scottish and English Romantic poets with a particular fondness for Byron. When he was 21 years old, he moved to New York City and worked in various banks, writing primarily as a pastime. During this time, he found work as the personal secretary of philanthropist John Jacob Astor. Halleck was eventually made an original trustee for the Astor Library, which would later become the foundation for the New York Public Library.
Though his writing was principally recreational, Halleck contributed (along with his close personal friend Joseph Rodman Drake) the satirical “Croaker Papers” to the New York Evening Post in 1819. His other works, such as “Alnwick Castle,” “Burns,” “Marco Bozzaris,” “Red Jacket,” and “Young America” were also popular favorites of the time, with his poems being frequently recited in classrooms.
An active member of the Knickerbocker group, which was a loose and somewhat indistinct group of writers, Halleck was known for his satirical and romantic verses. His love of Byron led to him being partially regarded as the American Byron. His poems have been explored for their underlying homosexual themes and it has been speculated that Halleck himself was homosexual, with comparisons being drawn to Walt Whitman’s poetry. He never married and returned to Guilford in 1849 where he lived with his sister until his death in 1867. Halleck’s will instructed that Joseph Rodman Drake, who had died many years earlier from tuberculosis, be disinterred and buried with him. Halleck is the only American writer honored in Central Park’s Literary Walk; President Rutherford B. Hayes dedicated his memorial there in 1877 before a crowd of 10,000 people.
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