Poetry in Context: “A Thank-Offering”

Posted on by M.E. Bond Posted in PoetryTagged , ,

Happy Thanksgiving! Each year I enjoy writing a blog post that touches on the holiday somehow. So far I have posted a look at the shifting date of Canadian Thanksgiving; an original poem commemorating the first snowfall; and the history of pumpkin spice. This year I decided to choose a Thanksgiving-themed poem to explore, in fact one I’d never heard of before. (Other autumn poems I’ve covered on the blog are: “Vagabond Song,” “Indian Summer,” and “To Autumn.”)

A Thank-Offering

Lord God, the winter has been sweet and brief
In this fair land;
For us the budded willow and the leaf,
The peaceful strand. 

For us the silver days and golden nights,
The violet mist;
The pearly clouds pierced with vibrating rays,
Of amethyst. 

At evening, every wave of our blue sea
Hollowed to hold
A fragment of the sunset’s mystery—
A fleck of gold. 

The crimson haze is on the alder trees
In places lush;
Already sings with sweet and lyric ease,
The western thrush. 

Lord God, for some of us the days and years
Have bitter been;
For some of us the burden and the tears,
The gnawing sin. 

For some of us, O God, the scanty store,
The failing bin;
For some of us the gray wolf at the door,
The red, within!

But to the hungry Thou hast given meat,
Hast clothed the cold;
And Thou hast given courage strong and sweet,
To the sad and old.

And so we thank Thee, Thou most tender God,
For the leaf and flower;
For the tempered winds, and quickening, velvet sod,
And the gracious shower.

Yea, generous God, we thank Thee for this land,
Where all are fed,
Where at the doors no freezing beggars stand,
Pleading for bread.

Ella Rhoads Higginson

“A Thank-Offering” was written by Ella Higginson (1862?-1940), the first Poet Laureate of Washington state. During her lifetime she was well-known as a poet, short story writer, and essayist — “in her heyday, the greatest lyrical interpreter of the pioneer-era Pacific Northwest for the rest of the world”.

Higginson was born in Kansas, but moved to Oregon with her family as an infant. She published her first story at age 14 and continued to publish short fiction, often using pseudonyms. After her marriage in 1888 she settled in New Whatcom (now Bellingham), Washington. She then wrote stories and poems under her real name and also worked as a magazine editor. She published one novel and a travel guide to Alaska. During World War I Higginson stopped writing to volunteer full-time with the Red Cross. She died in 1940 at age 78.

The Ella Higginson Recovery Project, directed by Dr. Laura Laffrado of Western Washington University, is currently working to raise awareness of this forgotten writer. If you’d like to spend 12 minutes learning more about Ella Higginson and her historical context, listen to this interview with Dr. Laffrado.

Draft of “A Thank-Offering”

A draft of “A Thank-Offering” on onionskin paper, courtesy of the Ella Higginson Papers, Center for Pacific Northwest Studies, Heritage Resources, Western Washington University, Bellingham WA. 

Note the changes Higginson made between this draft and the published version, for instance the second stanza.

Draft:

For us the golden days and silver nights,
The velvet winds;
At dawn, the clouds pierced thro’ with burning lights,
Like amber pins.

Published version:

For us the silver days and golden nights,
The violet mist;
The pearly clouds pierced with vibrating rays,
Of amethyst. 

Publication

“A Thank-Offering” was published in When the Birds Go North Again (1898), a book of 113 poems by Higginson.

When the Birds Go North Again, pictured is a reprint of the first edition. The Ella Higginson Blog.

Sources

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