The Marshes of Glynn is one of Sidney Lanier

Sidney Lanier

Sidney Lanier was an American musician and poet.-Biography:Sidney Lanier was born February 3, 1842, in Macon, Georgia, to parents Robert Sampson Lanier and Mary Jane Anderson; he was mostly of English ancestry. His distant French Huguenot ancestors immigrated to England in the 16th century...

's poems featured in "Hymns of the Marshes," an unfinished set of lyrical nature poems that describe the open salt marsh

Salt marsh

A salt marsh is an environment in the upper coastal intertidal zone between land and salt water or brackish water, it is dominated by dense stands of halophytic plants such as herbs, grasses, or low shrubs. These plants are terrestrial in origin and are essential to the stability of the salt marsh...

es of Glynn County

Glynn County, Georgia

Glynn County is a county located in the U.S. state of Georgia. As of 2000, the population was 67,568. The 2008 Census Estimate showed a population of 75,884...

 in coastal Georgia

Georgia (U.S. state)

Georgia is a state located in the southeastern United States. It was established in 1732, the last of the original Thirteen Colonies. The state is named after King George II of Great Britain. Georgia was the fourth state to ratify the United States Constitution, on January 2, 1788...

. The poem describes a marsh in detail, while evoking senses of patience and common decency.

In The Marshes of Glynn Lanier is giving a religious testament. But he is doing more than evoking the mystery of God, he is speaking to his beloved country, the South, which lay devastated following the American Civil War

American Civil War

The American Civil War was a civil war fought in the United States of America. In response to the election of Abraham Lincoln as President of the United States, 11 southern slave states declared their secession from the United States and formed the Confederate States of America ; the other 25...

. He feared the coming onslaught of industrialism. And he sought to comfort his southern brethren by showing them the South was still there: an expansive landscape full of beauty and richness which had always been the source of her strength and sustenance. "Look around you," he was saying. "Take courage from the land which God has given you, which has always nourished you, and which is still there, and be comforted."

See also

• Glynn County, Georgia
  Glynn County, Georgia
  Glynn County is a county located in the U.S. state of Georgia. As of 2000, the population was 67,568. The 2008 Census Estimate showed a population of 75,884...
  
  for information about the setting of The Marshes of Glynn.

External links

• The Marshes of Glynn
• The New Georgia Encyclopedia