\t\t\t\tWho knows what well-known song has the word halcyon in it? Hint: it’s patriotic.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Good job, Karen and Anna! It’s a word in the song America<\/em>, the Beautiful. <\/em><\/p>\n Halcyon (hal\u2019 see un)<\/p>\n NOUN, a fabled Greek bird, identified with the kingfisher, who is supposed to have the power to calm the wind and the waves while it nests at sea during the winter solstice.<\/p>\n ADJECTIVE, calm\/peaceful\/tranquil, happy\/carefree: halcyon atmosphere<\/em>, or prosperous\/golden: halcyon years<\/em>.<\/p>\n In 1893, at the age of thirty-three, Katharine Lee Bates, an English professor at Wellesley College, took a train trip to Colorado to teach summer school. Many of the sights on her trip inspired her, including the World\u2019s Exposition in Chicago, Chicago itself (the \u201cWhite City\u201d with its alabaster buildings), the wheat fields of America’s heartland, and the majestic view of the Great Plains from atop Pikes Peak.<\/p>\n On the top of Pikes Peak, the words of a poem started to come to her, and she wrote them down upon returning to her hotel room. The poem was initially published two years later to commemorate the Fourth of July. It quickly caught the public’s fancy.<\/p>\n Several existing pieces of music were adapted to the poem. A tune came to Samuel W. Ward while he was on a ferryboat trip. He was so anxious to capture the tune in his head, he asked a fellow passenger for his shirt cuff to write the tune on, creating our well-known off the cuff<\/em> analogy??? Ward’s music combined with Bates’ poem was first published in 1910.<\/p>\n \u00a0America<\/em> the Beautiful<\/em><\/p>\n O beautiful for spacious skies, O beautiful for pilgrim feet O beautiful for heroes proved O beautiful for patriot dream O beautiful for halcyon skies. O beautiful for pilgrim\u2019s feet, O beautiful for glory-tale O beautiful for patriot dream In 2009, Buffy Sainte-Marie released a new version of America the Beautiful. Her version contained some new lyrics, as well as a small modification of the melody.<\/p>\n O beautiful for vision clear, Wellesley students honor Bates with a version at graduation, substituting: But wait! How about the MISHEARD lyrics commonly heard? (You know who, what, when, and where.) Who knows what well-known song has the word halcyon in it? Hint: it’s patriotic. Continue reading
\nFor amber waves of grain,
\nFor purple mountain majesties
\nAbove the fruited plain!
\nAmerica! America!
\nGod shed His grace on thee,
\nAnd crown thy good with brotherhood
\nFrom sea to shining sea!<\/p>\n
\nWhose stern impassioned stress
\nA thoroughfare for freedom beat
\nAcross the wilderness.
\nAmerica! America!
\nGod mend thine every flaw,
\nConfirm thy soul in self-control,
\nThy liberty in law.<\/p>\n
\nIn liberating strife,
\nWho more than self their country loved,
\nAnd mercy more than life.
\nAmerica! America!
\nMay God thy gold refine
\nTill all success be nobleness,
\nAnd every gain divine.<\/p>\n
\nThat sees beyond the years
\nThine alabaster cities gleam
\nUndimmed by human tears.
\nAmerica! America!
\nGod shed his grace on thee,
\nAnd crown thy good with brotherhood
\nFrom sea to shining sea.<\/p>\n
\nFor amber waves of grain,
\nFor purple mountain majesties.
\nAbove the enameled plain!
\nAmerica!America!
\nGod shed his grace on thee
\nTill souls wax fair as earth and air
\nAnd music-hearted sea!<\/p>\n
\nWhose stern impassioned stress
\nA thoroughfare for freedom beat
\nAcross the wilderness!
\nAmerica!America!
\nGod shed his grace on thee
\nTill paths be wrought through
\nWilds of thought
\nBy pilgrim foot and knee<\/p>\n
\nOf liberating strife
\nWhen once and twice,
\nfor man\u2019s avail
\nMan lavished precious life
\nAmerica! America!
\nGod shed his grace on thee
\nTill selfish gain no longer stain
\nThe banner of the free!<\/p>\n
\nThat sees beyond the year
\nThine alabaster cities gleam
\nUndimmed by human tears!
\nAmerica! America!
\nGod shed his grace on thee
\nTill noble men keep once again
\nThy whiter jubilee!<\/p>\n
\nThat sees beyond the years,
\nThe night time sky, our hopes that fly,
\nUndimmed by human tears.
\nAmerica! America!
\nGod shed His grace on thee,
\n‘Til selfish gain no longer stain,
\nThe banner of the free.
\nAnd crown thy good with brotherhood,
\nFrom sea to shining sea.<\/p>\n
\nAnd crown thy good with SISTERhood,
\nFrom sea to shining sea.<\/p>\n
\nGod shed his face on thee (dear God, facebook?)
\nGod shed his grace on tea (Chai for a Chai?)
\nFor Hamburg waves of grain (Iowa, not Germany!)
\nAngelica, Angelica (Houston, Houston)
\nBob shared his grapes with me (Won’t you be my Gallo?)
\nWith motherhood
\nFrom me to shining me.
\nOh beautiful for spacious guys (every girl needs one)<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"