| Samuel Kettell, ed. Specimens of American Poetry. 1829. | | | | Extract from a Poem Delivered at the Departure of the Senior Class of Yale College, in 1826 | | By Nathaniel Parker Willis (1806–1867) |
| | | WHAT is its earthly victory? Press on! | |
| For it hath tempted angels. Yet press on! | |
| For it shall make you mighty among men; | |
| And from the eyrie of your eagle thought, | |
| Ye shall look down on monarchs. Oh! press on! | 5 |
| For the high ones and powerful shall come | |
| To do you reverence; and the beautiful | |
| Will know the purer language of your brow, | |
| And read it like a talisman of love! | |
| Press on! for it is godlike to unloose | 10 |
| The spirit, and forget yourself in thought; | |
| Bending a pinion for the deeper sky, | |
| And in the very fetters of your flesh, | |
| Mating with the pure essences of heaven! | |
| Press on!—“for in the grave there is no work, | 15 |
| And no device.”—Press on! while yet ye may! | | | | |
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