O Lights of the North!

February 26, 2016 4:43 AM

Where to find the full text and title of this William Ross Wallace poem?

From this FPP about the Solar Storm of 1859:

The famous American poet William Ross Wallace (1819 - 1881) was a well-known and admired contributor to newspapers and magazines of the time, and penned a poem about the aurora, which was published in The East Floridian, September 15, 1859. Here is a short excerpt from it:

…O ye wonderful shapes
With your streamers of light
Blazing out o'er the earth
From your ramparts of night;
With your strange hazy hues;
With your swift-changing forms,
Light the red-lightning rush
Of fierce tropic storms -
O ye terrible shapes!
Yet through all still appear
Yonder love-speaking eyes
Of the far starry sphere;
So 'mid terror, we still
Can a symbol behold
Of the Heavenly Love
In the flame o'er us rolled;
Evermore, evermore
Though in mantles of fire,
There are pitying smiles
From our God and our Sire -
O Lights of the North! As in eons ago,
Not in vain from your home do ye over us glow!

All I've been able to find are other articles with this exact same text.

The University of Florida's Digital Collection doesn't have the East Floridian for 9/15/1859. And nothing I've found on William Ross Wallace makes mention of this poem.

Where else should I look?

posted by zinon to Writing & Language (5 answers total)

Have you tried calling to see if they have it on microfilm?

Also, this page says:

Note that the number of counties and the county boundaries were significantly different prior to 1925, so the geographic areas covered by these newspapers may not be limited to what is considered their local area today. For example, in 1830 Alachua County stretched from the Georgia border to Ft. Myers, and Mosquito (Orange) County stretched from Ocala to West Palm Beach. Also, coverage of Florida news prior to 1900 might appear in newspapers from other states which had major ports or railroad lines connecting to Florida (e.g., Atlanta, Charleston, New Orleans, and Savannah).

So maybe try not limiting your search to the East Floridian (if you haven't already tried that).

Also, the Library of Congress.
posted by triggerfinger at 7:39 AM on February 26, 2016

Florida State has The East Floridian on microfilm, which may be available through interlibrary loan. The Library of Congress doesn't seem to have it digitized yet.

That short excerpt you quoted seems to be the only thing on the web.
posted by mudpuppie at 8:01 AM on February 26, 2016

PS: I also searched WorldCat, Gutenburg, Google News Archives, and Newspapers.com. No luck there.
posted by mudpuppie at 8:02 AM on February 26, 2016

Best answer: It's on the top left corner of this newspaper digitized by the Library of Congress. Evening star. (Washington, D.C.), 09 Sept. 1859. Chronicling America: Historic American Newspapers. Lib. of Congress. http://chroniclingamerica.loc.gov/lccn/sn83045462/1859-09-09/ed-1/seq-4/
posted by interplanetjanet at 1:33 PM on February 26, 2016

Best answer: I transcribed it below. I think I got it all right. Including the footnotes.

The Aurora Borealis
Night of August 28, 1859
By William Ross Wallace

I.
Evermore, evermore
In the nights and the days,
Is the Universe stirred
With its anthems of praise.
Not a great forest touched
By the wings of the breeze;
Not a tempest that bends
O’er its organ of seas;
Not a river that breathes,
Not a torrent that falls
With its wild thunder-crash
From the high mountain-walls;
Not a volcano reared,
Like a terrible pyre,
With its black curling smoke
And its holocaust-fire—
That is not a firm note in the anthems that roll
From the world moulded harp to the One Central Soul.

II.
O, alas! that our ears
So uncaring should grow
To the worship around,
And the great praise below:
O alas! that our souls
Should so callously thus
Move amid the high hymn
Nature utters for us;
Mighty lights of the North!
From your home do ye start
In that terrible strength
To awaken the heart?
On the sky of that God
When we listen no more
To the voice of the sod?
Yes, Lights of the North! as in ages ago,
With a terrible praise* from your home do ye glow!

III.
O ye wonderful shapes!
With your streamers of light
Blazing out o’er the earth
From yon ramparts of night;
With your strange mazy hues;
With your swift-changing forms
Like the red lightning rush
Of fierce tropical storms—
O ye terrible shapes!
Yet through all still appear
Yonder love speakinge
Of the far starrry sphere: †
So ‘mid terror, we still
Can a symbol behold
Of the heavenly Love
In the flames o’er us rolled:
Evermore, evermore,
Though in mantles of fire,
There are pitying smiles
From our God and our Sire.—
O Lights of the North! as in ages ago,
Not in vain from your home do ye over us glow!

*The brightness cometh out of the North—the terrible praise, &c., see Job.
† The stars can often be seen through the manifestation.
posted by interplanetjanet at 1:58 PM on February 26, 2016