Poetry & Analysis
Poems About Blue Remembered Hills
Nature PoemsA Shropshire Lad, XL
Into my heart an air that kills
From yon far country blows:
What are those blue remembered hills,
What spires, what farms are those?
That is the land of lost content,
I see it shining plain,
The happy highways where I went
And cannot come again.
Overview Short Summary
A distant view of blue hills awakens painful nostalgia. The speaker recognizes the landscape as the lost country of youth, happiness, and roads that cannot be traveled again in the same way.
Core Ideas Main Themes
- Memory: The hills become a visual doorway into the past.
- Irrecoverable time: The speaker can see the old world but cannot truly return to it.
- Homesickness: Distance intensifies love for a remembered place.
Interpretation Symbolism and Sound
The “blue remembered hills” symbolize an idealized past softened by distance. The compact rhyme and repeated long vowel sounds give the poem the quality of a sad remembered song.
Remembrance
Cold in the earth—and the deep snow piled above thee,
Far, far removed, cold in the dreary grave!
Have I forgot, my only Love, to love thee,
Severed at last by Time’s all-severing wave?
Now, when alone, do my thoughts no longer hover
Over the mountains, on that northern shore,
Resting their wings where heath and fern leaves cover
Thy noble heart forever, ever more?
Cold in the earth—and fifteen wild Decembers,
From those brown hills, have melted into spring;
Faithful, indeed, is the spirit that remembers
After such years of change and suffering!
Sweet Love of youth, forgive, if I forget thee,
While the world’s tide is bearing me along;
Other desires and other hopes beset me,
Hopes which obscure, but cannot do thee wrong!
No later light has lightened up my heaven,
No second morn has ever shone for me;
All my life’s bliss from thy dear life was given,
All my life’s bliss is in the grave with thee.
But, when the days of golden dreams had perished,
And even Despair was powerless to destroy,
Then did I learn how existence could be cherished,
Strengthened, and fed without the aid of joy.
Then did I check the tears of useless passion—
Weaned my young soul from yearning after thine;
Sternly denied its burning wish to hasten
Down to that tomb already more than mine.
And, even yet, I dare not let it languish,
Dare not indulge in memory’s rapturous pain;
Once drinking deep of that divinest anguish,
How could I seek the empty world again?
Overview Short Summary
Years after a beloved person’s death, the speaker asks whether time has weakened her devotion. Her thoughts still cross northern mountains toward the grave, but she has learned to continue living without surrendering the memory.
Core Ideas Main Themes
- Enduring grief: Fifteen winters have passed, yet love remains.
- Mountain remembrance: Mountains, heath, fern, snow, and brown hills hold the beloved’s resting place.
- Survival: The speaker learns to cherish existence without depending on happiness.
Significance Why This Poem Fits a Memorial
The poem does not offer easy consolation. Instead, it honors the difficult balance between remembering someone deeply and continuing to live, which gives it unusual emotional honesty as a mountain memorial poem.
Craft Literary Devices
Repetition of coldness, distance, and remembrance reinforces lasting grief. Mountains and seasonal change provide a physical measure of time, while the image of thoughts “hovering” gives memory wings.
I Like to See It Lap the Miles
I like to see it lap the Miles,
And lick the valleys up,
And stop to feed itself at tanks;
And then, prodigious, step
Around a pile of mountains,
And, supercilious, peer
In shanties by the sides of roads;
And then a quarry pare
To fit its sides, and crawl between,
Complaining all the while
In horrid, hooting stanza;
Then chase itself down hill
And neigh like Boanerges;
Then, punctual as a star,
Stop—docile and omnipotent—
At its own stable door.
Overview Short Summary
Dickinson describes a train as a huge animal that drinks at tanks, circles mountains, cuts through a quarry, races downhill, and finally stops obediently at the station.
Core Ideas Main Themes
- Human power in mountain landscapes: The train navigates valleys, slopes, and rock.
- Technology and nature: A machine is understood through the behavior of a living creature.
- Controlled strength: The train is both “docile” and “omnipotent.”
Literary Technique Extended Metaphor
The train is never directly named. Verbs such as lap, lick, feed, step, crawl, chase, and neigh sustain the animal metaphor, while “horrid, hooting stanza” turns its mechanical sound into rough poetry.
Reader Questions
Frequently Asked Questions
What do mountains symbolize in poetry?
Mountains commonly symbolize endurance, spiritual height, solitude, memory, danger, freedom, or a difficult goal. Their meaning changes with the poem: a summit may represent strength, while a distant snow-covered ridge may represent loss or separation.
Which poems are suitable as funeral poems for mountain lovers?
“Remembrance” by Emily Brontë and “If Spirits Walk” by Sophie Jewett are especially suitable for reflective memorial reading. “Upon the Mountain’s Distant Head” and “Bivouac on a Mountain Side” may also suit services centered on nature, distance, and lasting memory.
Are there short mountain poems for kids?
“Fable” by Ralph Waldo Emerson is a strong choice because it uses rhyme, animal characters, humor, and a clear lesson about individual worth. “The Eagle” by Alfred, Lord Tennyson is also short enough for memorization and classroom discussion.
Which poems focus on snow-covered mountains?
“Upon the Mountain’s Distant Head,” “It Sifts from Leaden Sieves,” “The Runaway,” and “To a Wreath of Snow” all place snow, mountain scenery, or winter identity near the center of the poem.
What is a good poem about overcoming a difficult climb?
Christina Rossetti’s “Up-Hill” is the clearest choice. Its upward road represents a demanding life journey, while the promised inn offers reassurance that effort, exhaustion, and uncertainty will eventually lead to rest.
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