Crack o' dawn by Fannie Stearns Davis is a collection of lyric poetry written in the early 20th century. The book revels in nature’s freshness and freedom while measuring it against the press of city life, and it meditates on love, solitude, sorrow, faith, and the inner strength of women and men. Its likely topic is the soul’s struggle to stay alive to beauty and compassion amid modern fatigue and grief.Opening with a jubilant sunrise set against industrial drudgery, the poems range through intimate self-portraits and vivid masks: the empath who “looks into all men’s hearts,” the recluse torn between peace and life’s summons, the mother and the unborn child, a wandering peddler haunted by loss, and mythic figures like a black witch, a changeling, and riders racing the dawn. Landscapes of wind, sea, rain, and mountain carry the speaker’s desire for escape and renewal; domestic scenes offer lullabies, new houses, and hidden joys; love appears urgent, dangerous, or withheld; sorrow shadows spring yet sometimes loosens its grip. Throughout, recurring images of wings, hooves, storms, and stars trace a restless push toward freedom, compassion, and a truth that finally feels larger than words. (This is an automatically generated summary.)
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