Literature/Katharine Lee Bates
America the Beautiful
Katharine Lee Bates, 1895
Katharine Lee Bates's hymn in praise of the American landscape and its people, beginning "O beautiful for spacious skies".
O beautiful for spacious skies,For amber waves of grain,For purple mountain majestiesAbove the fruited plain!
America! America!God shed His grace on thee,And crown thy good with brotherhoodFrom sea to shining sea!
O beautiful for pilgrim feetWhose stern impassion’d stressA thoroughfare for freedom beatAcross the wilderness.
America! America!God mend thine ev’ry flaw,Confirm thy soul in self-control,Thy liberty in law.
O beautiful for heroes prov’dIn liberating strife,Who more than self their country loved,And mercy more than life.
America! America!May God thy gold refineTill all success be nobleness,And ev’ry gain divine.
O beautiful for patriot dreamThat sees beyond the yearsThine alabaster cities gleamUndimmed by human tears.
America! America!God shed His grace on thee,And crown thy good with brotherhoodFrom sea to shining sea.