Poems from Golden Leaves
Eloise A. Skimings Poems
Featured PoemsWater Lillies
Flowers of the deep, how grand in thy beauty,
Ever floating with pride o’er Huron’s pure breast,
Like cups of pure gold, luring man from his duty
And filling his mind with a heavenly rest.
Earth has no flower in her garden so royal,
So queenly and grand as this queen of the wave;
So proudly ye look, so strong and so loyal,
The foam crest your birth place, the foam crest your grave.
Where are ye now, when your home is frost-laden?
The ice king is gamboling free o’er your bed;
But the sun will restore thee, as hope does the maiden
Who gathers June roses for the perfume they shed.
Overview Short Summary
“Water Lillies”—spelled that way in the 1890 edition—praises flowers floating on Lake Huron. Their royal beauty creates a feeling of rest, disappears beneath winter ice, and returns with the sun, making the poem a meditation on beauty, dormancy and renewal.
Core Ideas Main Themes
- Beauty in nature: The lilies are treated as the grandest flowers in earth’s garden.
- The Lake Huron landscape: The poem connects local scenery with spiritual calm.
- Renewal after winter: Frost and ice interrupt the flowers’ life but do not end it permanently.
Emotional Effect Tone and Mood
The tone is admiring and elevated. Winter briefly introduces uncertainty, but the final promise of sunlight restores a hopeful mood.
Literary Technique Imagery and Personification
The lilies appear as “cups of pure gold” and a “queen of the wave,” combining color imagery with royal personification. Lake Huron has a “breast,” winter becomes an “ice king,” and the flowers’ underwater bed resembles a sleeping place.
Interpretation Symbols and Their Meaning
- Water lilies: They symbolize beauty that remains connected to a difficult, changing environment.
- Ice: Winter represents temporary absence, stillness or hardship.
- The returning sun: It symbolizes restoration and hope.
Poetic Form Rhyme Scheme and Structure
The poem has three quatrains with alternating end rhymes. The first stanza observes, the second crowns the flower with royal imagery, and the third moves through winter toward promised return.
Easter
The clouds break—light thro’ the darkness
Penetrates the gloom with its effulgence,
And from on high soft Alleluias float
Like angels’ whisperings—full of hope
To the hopeless mortal, whose web of life,
Both warp and weft, are spun of sin;
But now the God-man, who died to save
And bring sinners to repentance,
Is risen to-day, as He said,
And lo, their faces are illumin’d
And their souls once more purified.
The old leaven is purg’d away
And the tarnish on their armor
Is removed—may it keep burnish’d
With constant use in God’s armory,
This world, which Satan strives to rule;
And at the final resurrection
May we all swell the grand chorus,
“Resurrexit Sicut Dixit”—Alleluia.
Overview Short Summary
Skimings’ “Easter” moves from darkness to light as it celebrates Christ’s resurrection. The poem describes repentance as purification and asks believers to keep their spiritual armor bright through active faith before the final resurrection.
Core Ideas Main Themes
- Resurrection and hope: Light breaking through cloud and darkness represents renewed spiritual possibility.
- Repentance and purification: Sin is described as something that can be purged and cleansed.
- Active faith: The armor must remain burnished through use, suggesting that belief requires continuing practice.
Emotional Effect Tone and Mood
The tone is reverent, triumphant and exhortative. The opening offers comfort, while the closing invites readers to join a communal declaration of resurrection.
Interpretation Imagery and Symbolism
- Light through darkness: The central image represents resurrection, forgiveness and hope.
- Warp and weft: The woven web of life suggests that sin can become deeply embedded in human experience.
- Armor: Spiritual life is pictured as disciplined preparation for moral struggle.
Craft Literary Devices
- Contrast: Darkness and hopelessness are opposed to light, Alleluias and purified souls.
- Simile: The Alleluias are compared to angels’ whisperings.
- Extended metaphor: Faith is presented through the language of armor and an armory.
- Allusion: The Latin phrase “Resurrexit Sicut Dixit” means “He has risen as He said.”
April Violets
O violets, sweet violets, ye heralds of spring,
What fond recollections to my heart ye bring;
So sweet is your perfume, ye whisper of hope
When your scented blue leaves, five-petall’d, ye ope.
O violets, sweet violets, waft ye to heaven
The pure joys of life, which to mortals are giv’n;
Speak not of the shadows which oft round us lie,
But of the warm sunshine that comes from on high.
Overview Short Summary
“April Violets” welcomes the flowers as early signs of spring. Their color and fragrance awaken memory, but the poem ultimately asks them to carry a message of hope rather than dwell on life’s shadows.
Core Ideas Main Themes
- Spring renewal: The violets announce the return of growth after winter.
- Memory: Their fragrance brings earlier experiences back to the speaker.
- Hope over sorrow: The final lines deliberately turn attention from surrounding shadows toward warmth from above.
Emotional Effect Tone and Mood
The tone is tender, nostalgic and hopeful. Its mood resembles the quiet relief of discovering the first flowers of a new season.
Literary Technique Imagery and Personification
Color, perfume and warmth create visual, olfactory and tactile imagery. The violets are personified as heralds that whisper, speak and carry human joys toward heaven.
Poetic Form Rhyme Scheme and Structure
Two rhymed quatrains move from observation to instruction. The repeated opening address, “O violets, sweet violets,” gives the poem a lyrical, song-like quality.
Craft Literary Devices
- Apostrophe: The speaker addresses the flowers directly.
- Repetition: “Violets, sweet violets” emphasizes affection and musicality.
- Personification: Flowers become messengers of spring and hope.
- Contrast: Shadows are set against warm sunshine from on high.
Harvest Time
How sorrowful it is to watch
The noisy reaping machine
Parting the grain from its mother bed,
While it gracefully bent its stately head
As the breeze swept o’er the green.
The binders follow in their train
To bind the golden grain;
And when their hard day’s work is o’er
They merrily dance, as in days of yore,
To the sweet-sounding violin.
How glorious the harvest moon
Peeps thro’ the maple leaves,
And beams upon the merry throng
As they sing the beautiful harvest song
In the shade of the lofty trees.
Overview Short Summary
“Harvest Time” begins with the speaker’s sadness at seeing a machine cut grain from its “mother bed.” The poem then follows the workers from labor to evening celebration beneath the harvest moon, ending with music, song and community.
Core Ideas Main Themes
- Labor and completion: Harvest marks the end of a season’s growth and the reward of work.
- Change in rural life: The noisy machine interrupts the grace and quiet of the field.
- Community celebration: Dancing, violin music and shared song balance the opening sadness.
Emotional Effect Tone and Mood
The tone changes noticeably. It begins as sorrowful and sympathetic toward the grain, becomes attentive to physical work, and ends in a warm, festive mood.
Literary Technique Imagery and Personification
The grain bends a “stately head” and is separated from a “mother bed,” giving the crop human dignity and family connection. The harvest moon “peeps” through maple leaves and beams on the gathering like a quiet observer.
Poetic Form Rhyme Scheme and Structure
The poem uses three five-line stanzas. Its movement is chronological: cutting the grain, binding it after work, and celebrating at night. That sequence gives the poem the shape of a complete harvest day.
Craft Literary Devices
- Personification: Grain has a mother bed and stately head; the moon peeps and beams.
- Auditory contrast: The “noisy reaping machine” is later replaced by violin music and song.
- Color imagery: Golden grain and the harvest moon create warmth.
- Emotional progression: Sorrow gives way to fellowship and celebration.
Eloise A. Skimings
Frequently Asked Questions
Who was Eloise A. Skimings?
Eloise Ann Skimings was a Canadian poet, musician, music teacher, composer and newspaper correspondent associated with Goderich, Ontario. Born in 1837, she became known as the “Poetess of Lake Huron” and died in 1921.
What is Golden Leaves by Eloise A. Skimings?
Golden Leaves is Skimings’ poetry collection. An edition appeared in 1890, and a much larger 1904 edition gathered nearly 1,000 poems. The collection includes personal tributes, memorial verse, Christian poems, nature poems and works connected with seasons and local life.
What is the meaning of the Four Leaf Clover poem?
“Four Leafed Clover” is about affectionate friendship. Although the clover traditionally symbolizes luck, the poem’s real focus is Emma’s repeated effort to find it and pray for the speaker’s good fortune. The gift matters because of the care behind it.
Which Eloise A. Skimings poems are about Christian faith?
“The Lord He Guideth Me” and “Easter” are the clearest examples in this selection. The first centers on trust in divine guidance, while the second treats resurrection, repentance, purification and active spiritual discipline.
Which Eloise A. Skimings poems are about flowers and nature?
“Only a Flower,” “Water Lillies” and “April Violets” focus directly on flowers. “October” and “Harvest Time” broaden that interest to Lake Huron, autumn weather, fields, maple leaves and the agricultural year.
Why is Water Lillies spelled with two l letters in the second word?
The 1890 edition prints the title as “Water Lillies.” Modern English normally spells the flower “water lilies,” but the historical title has been retained here while the standard spelling is used naturally in explanation.
Are Eloise A. Skimings poems in the public domain?
The poems reproduced here were published in 1890, and Skimings died in 1921. They are in the public domain in the United States and in countries applying a copyright term of the author’s life plus 100 years or less as of 2026. Publishers should still follow any local rules that apply to a particular jurisdiction or later edited edition.
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