The “pilgrim shadow” of the poem tells the “gallant knight” that he will discover the land of Eldorado “Over the Mountains / Of the Moon, / Down the Valley of the Shadow” mirroring one of the most memorable verses in the most famous psalm in the Bible, PSALM 23 : 4…
The Sound of Many Waters
In PSALM 93 : 4, David declares that “The Lord on high is mightier than the noise of many waters…” and in describing “four living creatures,” Ezekiel “heard the noise of their wings, like the noise of many waters, like the voice of the Almighty…
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 […]
A Contrite Heart
PSALM 51 is David’s expression of repentance after having sinned greatly with Bathsheba and being confronted by Nathan the prophet. The account can be found in 2 SAMUEL 12-13. In PSALM 51 : 17, David acknowledges that “A broken and contrite heart—These, O God, You will not despise.” Recessional’s second stanza begins with the lines: