Another Poem for National Poetry Month

The following poem was taken from Death Poetry, a new title in Enslow's Pure Poetry series. This poem was written by Ralph Waldo Emerson. Each of the four books in this series cover a different poetry theme. A

different poet is covered in each chapter, focuses on one poem, and is accompanied by detailed analysis discussing the style and technique, poetic devices, and the cultural significance. Every chapter ends with questions, and prompts students to discuss and assess the featured poems.

Good-by

Good-by, proud world, I’m going home,

Thou’rt not my friend, and I’m not thine;

Long through thy weary crowds I roam;

A river-ark on the ocean brine,

Long I’ve been tossed like the driven foam,

But now, proud world, I’m going home.

Good-by to Flattery’s fawning face,

To Grandeur, with his wise grimace,

To upstart Wealth’s averted eye,

To supple Office low and high,

To crowded halls, to court, and street,

To frozen hearts, and hasting feet,

To those who go, and those who come,

Good-by, proud world, I’m going home.

I’m going to my own hearth-stone

Bosomed in yon green hills, alone,

A secret nook in a pleasant land,

Whose groves the frolic fairies planned;

Where arches green the livelong day

Echo the blackbird’s roundelay,

And vulgar feet have never trod

A spot that is sacred to thought and God.

Oh, when I am safe in my sylvan home,

I tread on the pride of Greece and Rome;

And when I am stretched beneath the pines

Where the evening star so holy shines,

I laugh at the lore and the pride of man,

At the sophist schools, and the learned clan;

For what are they all in their high conceit,

When man in the bush with God may meet.

This entire series is correlated to the Common Core College and Career Readiness Standards, and can be obtained from your preferred vendor, local bookstores, enslow.com, Amazon, and Barnes and Noble. They are available in library, paperback, and eBook formats.