The Golden Land
O sweet September in the valley
Carved through the green hills, sheer and straight,
Where the tall trees crowd round and sally
Down the slope sides, with stately gait
And sylvan dance: and in the hollow
Silver voices ripple and cry
Follow, O follow!
Follow, O follow!—and we follow
Where the white cottages star the slope,
And the white smoke winds o'er the hollow,
And the blythe air is quick with hope;
Till the Sun whispers, O remember!
You have but thirty days to run,
O sweet September!
—O sweet September, where the valley
Leans out wider and sunny and full,
And the red cliffs dip their feet and dally
With the green billows, green and cool;
And the green billows archly smiling,
Kiss and cling to them, kiss and leave them,
Bright and beguiling:—
Bright and beguiling, as She who glances
Along the shore and the meadows along,
And sings for heart's delight, and dances
Crowned with apples, and ruddy, and strong:—
Can we see thee, and not remember
Thy sun-brown cheek and hair sun-golden,
O sweet September?
A Song of Spring and Autumn
In the season of white wild roses
We two went hand in hand:
But now in the ruddy autumn
Together already we stand.
O pale pearl-necklace that wandered
O'er the white-thorn's tangled head!
The white-thorn is turned to russet,
The pearls to purple and red!
On the topmost orchard branches
It then was crimson and snow,
Where now the gold-red apples
Burn on the turf below.
And between the trees the children
In and out run hand in hand;
And, with smiles that answer their smiling,
We two together stand.

Francis Turner Palgrave (1824-1897) was a British critic and poet. He is best known for his influential 1861 anthology, Golden Treasury of English Songs and Lyrics, an attempt at compiling an exhaustive collection of all the major and minor poets of English literature. Palgrave excluded from his original anthology all poets living at the time of publication. Signaling the continuing value of the work, Golden Treasury has since been published in revised form under the editorship of other English literati, including the United Kingdom poet laureates, Alfred Lord Tennyson (with whom he formed a close friendship) and C. Day Lewis, and the English critic Christopher Ricks. Although better known and more highly praised as a critic and anthologist, Palgrave also composed capable volumes of poems and hymns. He held the chair of Professor of Poetry at Oxford from 1885 to 1895.
The Golden Land
O sweet September in the valley
Carved through the green hills, sheer and straight,
Where the tall trees crowd round and sally
Down the slope sides, with stately gait
And sylvan dance: and in the hollow
Silver voices ripple and cry
Follow, O follow!
Follow, O follow!—and we follow
Where the white cottages star the slope,
And the white smoke winds o'er the hollow,
And the blythe air is quick with hope;
Till the Sun whispers, O remember!
You have but thirty days to run,
O sweet September!
—O sweet September, where the valley
Leans out wider and sunny and full,
And the red cliffs dip their feet and dally
With the green billows, green and cool;
And the green billows archly smiling,
Kiss and cling to them, kiss and leave them,
Bright and beguiling:—
Bright and beguiling, as She who glances
Along the shore and the meadows along,
And sings for heart's delight, and dances
Crowned with apples, and ruddy, and strong:—
Can we see thee, and not remember
Thy sun-brown cheek and hair sun-golden,
O sweet September?
A Song of Spring and Autumn
In the season of white wild roses
We two went hand in hand:
But now in the ruddy autumn
Together already we stand.
O pale pearl-necklace that wandered
O'er the white-thorn's tangled head!
The white-thorn is turned to russet,
The pearls to purple and red!
On the topmost orchard branches
It then was crimson and snow,
Where now the gold-red apples
Burn on the turf below.
And between the trees the children
In and out run hand in hand;
And, with smiles that answer their smiling,
We two together stand.

Francis Turner Palgrave (1824-1897) was a British critic and poet. He is best known for his influential 1861 anthology, Golden Treasury of English Songs and Lyrics, an attempt at compiling an exhaustive collection of all the major and minor poets of English literature. Palgrave excluded from his original anthology all poets living at the time of publication. Signaling the continuing value of the work, Golden Treasury has since been published in revised form under the editorship of other English literati, including the United Kingdom poet laureates, Alfred Lord Tennyson (with whom he formed a close friendship) and C. Day Lewis, and the English critic Christopher Ricks. Although better known and more highly praised as a critic and anthologist, Palgrave also composed capable volumes of poems and hymns. He held the chair of Professor of Poetry at Oxford from 1885 to 1895.
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