Yellow Clover: A Book of Remembrance

By Katharine Lee Bates

This book of poetry, written by famous author Katharine Lee Bates, was dedicated in remembrance of her friend Katherine Coman.

“Katharine Lee Bates (August 12, 1859 – March 28, 1929) was an American professor and author, chiefly remembered for her anthem "America the Beautiful", but also for her many books and articles on social reform, on which she was a noted speaker.

Bates enjoyed close links with Wellesley College, Massachusetts, where she had graduated with a B.A., and later became a professor of English literature, helping to launch American literature as an academic speciality, and writing one of the first-ever college textbooks on it. She never married, possibly because she would have lost tenure if she had. Throughout her long career at Wellesley, she shared a house with her close friend and companion Katharine Coman. Some scholars have assumed that this was a lesbian relationship, considering some exchanges of letters sufficient proof, others believe their relationship may have been a platonic ‘Boston marriage’ in the contemporary phrase.”

• Language: English
• Publisher: Barakaldo Books
• Release date: Jun 14, 2022
• ISBN: 9781839748400

Book preview

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© Barakaldo Books 2022, all rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system or transmitted by any means, electrical, mechanical or otherwise without the written permission of the copyright holder.

Publisher’s Note

Although in most cases we have retained the Author’s original spelling and grammar to authentically reproduce the work of the Author and the original intent of such material, some additional notes and clarifications have been added for the modern reader’s benefit.

We have also made every effort to include all maps and illustrations of the original edition the limitations of formatting do not allow of including larger maps, we will upload as many of these maps as possible.

TABLE OF CONTENTS

TABLE OF CONTENTS 1

DEDICATION 6

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS 7

PREFATORY NOTE 8

YELLOW CLOVER 9

SHE IS THE GRACE OF ALL THAT ARE 13

A MOUNTAIN SOUL 13

LOVE PLANTED A ROSE 15

MEASURES 15

WHEN IT BEFORTUNES US 16

THE VICTORY 16

MADONNA 17

MADONNA 17

OUR DRIFTWOOD FIRE 18

THE CHANGING ROAD 18

THE DAY IS WANING 20

FELICES 21

LYING TOO FAINT TO LOOK 22

THE TRYST 22

AT HOLMENKOLLEN 23

GOOD FRIDAY IN PARIS 26

HOW OFT WITH THEE 26

OUR CHRISTMAS TRUCE 27

HOLY SPIRIT GONE FREE 30

STARRY RUNAWAY 30

THE GOD OF SILENCE 31

CREMATION 31

IF THE CELESTIAL BODY 32

IF YOU COULD COME 33

WHY WANDER MORE? 33

YOUR OWN PLANTS BLOOM AGAIN 33

IN CEDAR HILL CEMETERY (Newark, Ohio.) 34

THE BROKEN-HEARTED 36

FIREWOOD 37

LIFE 37

SHUT OUT 38

THE PATH OF SORROW 38

WORK 39

A ROSE-WHITE CLOUD 39

FAILURE ON FAILURE 39

A FROSTED BUSH IN THE SUN 40

POINTED FIRS 40

BIRDS AND BOOKS 41

LAUGHTER 41

YESTERDAY’S GRIEF 42

WESTERING HEART 44

TO ONE WHO WAITS 45

THE GATES OF DEATH 47

LOOKING ON THE MILKY WAY 48

IMMORTALITY 49

THE LUXURY OF EASE 49

I WILL NOT FEAR 50

WHEN AT THE LAST 50

WHERE TIME’S LONG RIVER 50

WHITE ROSE 50

NOW MY LOVE IS FLOWN AWAY 51

TESTIMONY 52

WHAT IS THE SPIRIT? 53

i 53

ii 53

iii 53

iv 54

IN BOHEMIA: A CORONA OF SONNETS 55

(I) 55

(II) 58

(III) 63

(IV) 67

(V) 71

(VI) 75

(VII) 79

YELLOW CLOVER

A Book of Remembrance

BY

KATHARINE LEE BATES

AUTHOR OF FAIRY GOLD,

THE RETINUE, ETC.

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DEDICATION

To

KATHARINE COMAN

"Quis desiderio sit pudor aut modus

Tam cari capitis?"

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

Several of these poems, written to my Friend or about her while she was living, are taken from my first published volume of verse, America the Beautiful, 1911, now out of print. A few of the memorial poems have appeared in periodicals,—notably in The Churchman and The North American Review.

PREFATORY NOTE

KATHARINE COMAN, to whom the following lyrics are addressed, was a teacher and writer of books on political and economic history. A Western woman, born in Newark, Ohio, November 23, 1857, she graduated from the University of Michigan in 1880, and was connected, for the remaining thirty-five years of her life, with Wellesley College. Coming as instructor in English, she went over in 1881 to the department of history, serving as instructor till ‘85, and then as professor of history and political economy till ‘99. Dean of the College the following year, she then resumed her teaching, holding the new