John Greenleaf Whittier: Collected Lyrics
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Public-domain lyrics

Our State

John Greenleaf Whittier

“Our State” as printed in The Complete Poetical Works of John Greenleaf Whittier (1895).

John Greenleaf Whittier: Collected Lyrics Text 99 1895 · historical text
Public domainBalladAmerican song
Complete public-domain lyrics

This text comes from The Complete Poetical Works of John Greenleaf Whittier, a historical songbook transcribed on Wikisource and reproduced from the pinned revision linked below.

Verse 1

The South-land boasts its teeming cane,

The prairied West its heavy grain,

And sunset’s radiant gates unfold

On rising marts and sands of gold!

Rough, bleak, and hard, our little State

Is scant of soil, of limits strait;

Her yellow sands are sands alone,

Her only mines are ice and stone!

From Autumn frost to April rain,

Too long her winter woods complain;

From budding flower to falling leaf,

Her summer time is all too brief.

Yet, on her rocks, and on her sands,

And wintry hills, the school-house stands,

Verse 2

And what her rugged soil denies,

The harvest of the mind supplies.

The riches of the Commonwealth

Are free, strong minds, and hearts of health;

And more to her than gold or grain,

The cunning hand and cultured brain.

For well she keeps her ancient stock,

The stubborn strength of Pilgrim Rock;

And still maintains, with milder laws,

And clearer light, the Good Old Cause!

Nor heeds the skeptic’s puny hands,

While near her school the church-spire stands;

Nor fears the blinded bigot’s rule,

While near her church-spire stands the school.

Credits

Written by John Greenleaf Whittier

Words by John Greenleaf Whittier. Historical text published in The Complete Poetical Works of John Greenleaf Whittier (1895); public domain. No claim to a modern recording or arrangement.

Source & text edition

The Complete Poetical Works of John Greenleaf Whittier (1895), “Our State”

Every text in this 1895 collected edition is by John Greenleaf Whittier (1807-1892), who died more than 133 years ago, so the text is in the public domain worldwide; the edition carries a Wikisource PD-old determination.

How to read this historical text and its source

Read the source on Wikisource

View copyright evidence · Transcription terms (CC BY-SA 4.0)

Retrieved 2026-10-27. Line spacing and section labels are adapted for reading. The displayed text follows the linked edition. Editorial notes and abstract artwork are by 52lyrics.
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