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Classic and Contemporary Poetry

AT THE UNITARIAN FESTIVAL by OLIVER WENDELL HOLMES

Poet Analysis

First Line: THE WAVES UNBUILD THE WASTING SHORE
Last Line: A FAIRER THRONE ON NEW-FOUND SHORES.
Subject(s): UNITARIANISM; UNITARIANS;
THE waves unbuild the wasting shore;
Where mountains towered the billows sweep,
Yet still their borrowed spoils restore,
And build new empires from the deep.
So while the floods of thought lay waste
The proud domain of priestly creeds,
Its heaven-appointed tides will haste
To plant new homes for human needs.
Be ours to mark with hearts unchilled
The change an outworn church deplores;
The legend sinks, but Faith shall build
A fairer throne on new-found shores.



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