In the opening paragraph of chapter 6, Hawthorne notes that Hester “named the infant ‘Pearl,’ as being of great price,—purchased with all she had,—her mother’s only treasure!” Also, in chapter eight, Master Wilson admonishes Pearl with great solemnity, saying, “”Pearl, thou must take heed to instruction, that so, in due season, thou mayest wear in […]
Bruised Reed
The last stanza of the slave mother’s lament over her daughters who have been sold as slaves begins, “Gone, gone,—sold and gone, / To the rice-swamp dank and lone; / By the holy love He beareth; / By the bruised reed He spareth; / Oh, may He, to whom alone / All their cruel wrongs […]
The Ark of the Covenant
Much like Patrick Henry in his Speech to the Virginia Convention, Whittier declares that there is a “Just God!” (See “Betrayed with a Kiss” for a discussion of that Biblical allusion.) Whittier goes on to speak of “Israel’s Ark of light,” an allusion to The Ark of the Covenant, also called The Ark of the […]
The Lord’s Prayer 2
Longfellow’s first sonnet in the Divina Commedia series begins, “Oft have I seen at some cathedral door / A laborer, pausing in the dust and heat, / Lay down his burden, and with reverent feet / Enter, and cross himself, and on the floor / Kneel to repeat his paternoster o’er…” MATTHEW 6:9-13 contains Jesus’ […]
Eyes that See and Ears that Hear
Patrick Henry asks his fellow Virginians, “Are we disposed to be of the number of those who, having eyes, see not, and, having ears, hear not, the things which so nearly concern their temporal salvation?” The idea of having eyes, but not seeing and having ears but not hearing can be found throughout both the […]