Poem of the Day: ‘Early in the Morning’
Modern without being modernist, the American poet Robert Hillyer argued for ‘conservative poetry,’ dubbing himself ‘a conservative and religious poet in a radical and blasphemous age.’
The American poet Robert Hillyer (1895–1961) is close to being washed under by the great wave of the world, another figure pulled down into the forgetful sea. Only today’s poem, “Early in the Morning,” much remains in public notice, really—and that at least partly because the composer Ned Rorem set it to music in one of the few commonly performed examples of American art song. But Hillyer remains a fascinating man. Helping form “the Harvard poets,” which included his classmates John Dos Passos and E.E. Cummings, Hillyer went to Europe shortly after graduating in 1917 to serve in an international ambulance core before America entered the war. He taught at Harvard for many years afterward, won the Pulitzer Prize, and wrote eight books of poetry. Modern without being modernist, he argued for “conservative poetry,” dubbing himself “a conservative and religious poet in a radical and blasphemous age.” In “Early in the Morning” he gives a wonderful example of what we might call Spots of Time poetry: a particular moment, sharply observed, that somehow resonates with a mystical and universal feeling.
Early in the Morning
by Robert Hillyer
Early in the morning
Of a lovely summer day,
As they lowered the bright awning
At the outdoor café,
I was breakfasting on croissants
And café au lait
Under greenery like scenery,
Rue François Premier.
They were hosing the hot pavement
With a dash of flashing spray
And a smell of summer showers
When the dust is drenched away,
Under greenery like scenery,
Rue François Premier.
I was twenty and a lover
And in Paradise to stay,
Very early in the morning
Of a lovely summer day.
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With “Poem of the Day,” The New York Sun offers a daily portion of verse selected by Joseph Bottum with the help of the North Carolina poet Sally Thomas, the Sun’s associate poetry editor. Tied to the day, or the season, or just individual taste, the poems will be typically drawn from the lesser-known portion of the history of English verse. In the coming months we will be reaching out to contemporary poets for examples of current, primarily formalist work, to show that poetry can still serve as a delight to the ear, an instruction to the mind, and a tonic for the soul.
