Tuesday, November 4, 2008

AMERICA THE BEAUTIFUL!

"America the Beautiful" was written by the professor, poet, and writer, Katharine Lee Bates in 1893. She wrote the song while on a trip to Colorado Springs, Colorado. When she got to the top of Pike's Peak, she said, "All the wonder of America seemed displayed there, with the sea-like expanse". Her trip inspired her to write the poem.

Several of the sights on her trip found their way into her poem:

The World's Columbian Exposition in Chicago, the "White City" with its promise of the future contained within its alabaster buildings.

The wheat fields of Kansas, through which her train was riding on July 4.

The majestic view of the Great Plains from atop Pikes Peak.

The poem first appeared in print in The Congregationalist, a weekly journal, on July 4, 1895. Additional changes were made to the wording in 1904 and in 1913, to give us the version we know today.


AMERICA THE BEAUTIFUL

O beautiful, for spacious skies,
For amber waves of grain,
For purple mountain majesties
Above the fruited plain!
America! America! God shed His grace on thee,
And crown thy good with brotherhood, from sea to shining sea.

O beautiful, for pilgrim feet
Whose stern, impassioned stress
A thoroughfare for freedom beat
Across the wilderness!
America! America! God mend thine ev'ry flaw;
Confirm thy soul in self control, thy liberty in law!

O beautiful, for heroes proved
In liberating strife,
Who more than self their country loved
And mercy more than life!
America! America! May God thy gold refine,
'Til all success be nobleness, and ev'ry gain divine!

O beautiful, for patriot dream
That sees beyond the years,
Thine alabaster cities gleam
Undimmed by human tears!
America! America! God shed His grace on thee,
And crown thy good with brotherhood, from sea to shining sea!


Vote. It's not just your privilege, it's your duty.

Vote as if you life depended on it,
for someday it may.

America is a great country, the land of the free
and the home of the brave.
Vote to keep it that way.

America is still the land of opportunity.
Vote to keep it that way.

Voting is still a private matter, so vote for who you
think is best qualified, not for who someone else
tells you to vote for.

4 comments:

  1. Truly a beautiful song/poem! I voted!

    ReplyDelete
  2. I did my part!
    Thanks for visiting my blog!!

    ReplyDelete
  3. I have been to Pike's Peak and have seen the monument they have their for her writing the poem. If you have never been to Pike's Peak and have the chance to go I encourage you to do so. It is absolutely breath-taking.

    ReplyDelete

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