The Kingdom by Marie Van Vorst
The speaker offers a “lovely Kingdom” of peace, rest, delight, forests, islands, oceans, and boundless skies. Though the beloved may rule a proud imperial empire, the speaker urges them to annex this beautiful land of love before it fades like a mirage. Earthly kingdoms vanish, but the land of love is immortal.
By Marie Van Vorst · First published 1907 · Genre: Love Poetry, Lyric Poetry, Sonnet · 161 words
First lines
Behold I bring a Kingdom in my hand, / Oh bend your eyes upon it! . Ways of peace / Lead by its rivers. Fields of rest are these / Above the endless skies of God expand. / Oceans of dear delight kiss on the sand, / And azure islands lift their waving trees / Where virgin forests' twined interstices / Shadow the pools of sleep, deep inland seas!
This is my lovely Kingdom. Tho' you reign / Over an empire, proud, imperial, / Annex this land of beauty to your part; / Else, like a mirage, seen, then lost again / It fade forever! Kingdoms vanish all -- / Immortal is the land of love, Sweetheart!
What this Textopian page supports
The Kingdom is listed on Textopian as a poem by Marie Van Vorst, dated 1907 CE.
This source record anchors work identity, reading entry points, and catalog context for checking claims about the work.
- Work type: Poem
- Author: Marie Van Vorst
- Date: 1907 CE
- Language: English
- Genres: Love Poetry, Lyric Poetry, Sonnet, Romantic Poetry, Pastoral Poetry
- Length: 161 words
- Structure: 1 section, 2 paragraphs
- Reading fit: Fairly Easy (7th Grade)
Good citation fit
- Work identity for The Kingdom by Marie Van Vorst
- Canonical title URL and first readable passage URL
- Genre and topic classification from the Textopian catalog
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Genres
- Love Poetry — The poem culminates in the declaration that the enduring 'kingdom' is the beloved's land of love, making romantic devotion its central subject.
- Lyric Poetry — Its brief, musical, highly personal expression of idealized feeling, rather than narrative action, is characteristic of lyric poetry.
- Sonnet — The work consists of fourteen lines and follows a sonnet-like progression from the vision of an idyllic realm to a concluding statement about love's immortality.
- Romantic Poetry — It relies on elevated emotion, idealized love, sublime natural imagery, and an imagined realm of beauty and spiritual permanence.
Tags
fiction · novel · romance · social drama · literary fiction · early twentieth-century · American literature · English-language · love · marriage · family relationships · social class