Saturday, July 6, 2024

Saturday Poetry Corner: Pikes Peak (The Original Poem) Which Became America The Beautiful




"The counsel of the Lord stands forever, the thoughts of His heart through all generations. 
  Blessed, happy, fortunate, to be envied is the nation whose God is the Lord,
 the people He had chosen as His heritage."
(Psalm 33:11-12)



Plaque Of America The Beautiful (Revised edition)
 At Summit Of Pike's Peak In Colorado
Image courtesy/Dreamstime.com



O beautiful for halcyon skies,

For amber waves of grain,

For purple mountain majesties

Above the enameled plain!

America! America!

God shed His grace on thee,

Till souls wax fair as earth and air

And music-hearted sea!


O beautiful for pilgrim feet

Whose stern impassioned stress

A thoroughfare for freedom beat

Across the wilderness!

America! America!

God shed His grace on thee

Till paths be wrought through wilds of thought

By pilgrim foot and knee!


O beautiful for glory-tale

Of liberating strife,

When once or twice, for man's avail,

Men lavished precious life!

America! America!

God shed His grace on thee

Till selfish gain no longer strain,

The banner of the free!


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

Till nobler men keep once again

Thy whiter jubilee!



The Story Behind The Poem


In 1893, a 33 year old English professor from Wellesley College
Katharine Lee Bates was traveling West to teach school in
Colorado Springs, Colorado.  While traveling across the country
by train, several sights inspired her and later found their way
into her poem, "Pikes Peak". 

These included the World's Columbian Exposition (Fair)
 being held in Chicago, known as the "White City" for 
 its future promise of gleaming white buildings; the vast
 amber-gold fields of wheat stretching out across the plains of
the Mid-West, and
 the majestic view from the highest summit
of  the 
southern Front Range of the Rocky Mountains of
North America, better known as Pikes Peak.

After her climb up the mountain, the words of the poem she
was writing came together and were later published in the
4th of July edition of the church periodical, "The Congregationalist"
where the poem was retitled, "America".

A hymn composed in 1882 by Samuel A. Ward called,"Materna"
was later
 chosen to be the best musical score, after the words
of Bates poem were revised and published in 1910 as the
 classic song, "America The Beautiful"  beloved by
generations of Americans ever since.



I love the great Ray Charles' rendition of this song!


America The Beautiful
(1972)
Ray Charles





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