Who said: "rocks and rills, the woods and templed hills"?
It’s a quotation alluded to in “Once Upon a Wilderness” by Calvin Rutstrum. Googling for the phrase, I see it is often alluded to. But I can’t quite decide who the original author was.
I was guessing some kind of poet, like Keats. But I’m just not sure.
If you can provide a book or web reference for your claim, I would appreciate it.
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My country, ’tis of thee,
Sweet land of liberty,
Of thee I sing;
Land where my fathers died,
Land of the pilgrims’ pride,
From every mountainside,
Let freedom ring!
My native country, thee,
Land of the noble free,
Thy name I love;
I love thy rocks and rills,
Thy woods and templed hills;
My heart with rapture thrills,
Like that above.
Let music swell the breeze,
And ring from all the trees,
Sweet freedom’s song;
Let mortal tongues awake;
Let all that breathe partake;
Let rocks their silence break,
The sound prolong.
Our fathers’ God, to Thee,
Author of liberty,
To Thee we sing;
Long may our land be bright
With freedom’s holy light;
Protect us by Thy might,
Great God, our King.
Samuel F. Smith 1832
http://www.cyberhymnal.org/htm/m/c/mctisoft.htm
At one time American schoolchildren learned and sang this song in the classroom. All of it. At the time that your author (who lived from 1895 to 1982) wrote this work, he probably took it for granted that Americans would recognize those lines and know the source.
@Jeruba you rock. As always. Thanks for the additional info. That would be correct, when one thinks of it.
It’s a little stream. A brook.
@Jeruba: And now you are doubly awesome. :-)
@timothykinney, your question with the word “rills” reminded me of another poem. One of my favorites actually. Here are the first few lines, in case you’re interested:
In Xanadu did Kubla Khan
A stately pleasure-dome decree :
Where Alph, the sacred river, ran
Through caverns measureless to man
Down to a sunless sea.
So twice five miles of fertile ground
With walls and towers were girdled round :
And there were gardens bright with sinuous rills,
Where blossomed many an incense-bearing tree ;
And here were forests ancient as the hills,
Enfolding sunny spots of greenery.
Samuel Taylor Coleridge
@Trillian GA for lines from Xanadu. I love the poem, but I had completely forgotten that it had sinuous rills. I love that imagery. Sometimes I wish I could really write that way. I have to be content with just seeing it—once in awhile—or appreciating that quality of poetry. Thanks.
@CyanoticWasp I keep my poetry near at all times, and treasure the few people known to me who enjoy it also. I feel that it’s best read aloud, but that may just be me. (I knew I Lurved you for a good reason!)
Thanks, @Trillian. You can guess which of Coleridge’s poems is my favorite. (In fact, it’s my user name elsewhere on the internet, minus the “Rime”.)
I don’t read nearly enough poetry, come to think of it. I enjoy this too much.
@CyanoticWasp then this is for you;
At length did cross an Albatross,
Thorough the fog it came ;
As if it had been a Christian soul,
We hailed it in God’s name.
It ate the food it ne’er had eat,
And round and round it flew.
The ice did split with a thunder-fit ;
The helmsman steered us through !
And a good south wind sprung up behind ;
The Albatross did follow,
And every day, for food or play,
Came to the mariner’s hollo !
In mist or cloud, on mast or shroud,
It perched for vespers nine ;
Whiles all the night, through fog-smoke white,
Glimmered the white Moon-shine.’
`God save thee, ancient Mariner !
From the fiends, that plague thee thus !—
Why look’st thou so ?’—With my cross-bow
I shot the ALBATROSS.
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