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Classic and Contemporary Poetry


BOSTON COMMON: 1630 by OLIVER WENDELL HOLMES

Poet Analysis

First Line: ALL OVERGROWN WITH BUSH AND FERN
Last Line: THE PARSON ON HIS BRINDLED BULL!
Subject(s): BOSTON;

ALL overgrown with bush and fern,
And straggling clumps of tangled trees,
With trunks that lean and boughs that turn,
Bent eastward by the mastering breeze, --
With spongy bogs that drip and fill
A yellow pond with muddy rain,
Beneath the shaggy southern hill
Lies wet and low the Shawmut plain.
And hark! the trodden branches crack;
A crow flaps off with startled scream;
A straying woodchuck canters back;
A bittern rises from the stream;
Leaps from his lair a frightened deer;
An otter plunges in the pool; --
Here comes old Shawmut's pioneer,
The parson on his brindled bull!



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