When for me the silent oar
When for me the silent oar. Lucy Larcom* (1824-1893).
This hymn appeared in the Unitarian book, Hymns of the Spirit (Boston, 1864), edited by Samuel Johnson* and Samuel Longfellow*, with the title ‘Not lost, but gone before’ (Hymnary.org). It was published in Larcom’s Poems (Boston, 1869), where it was entitled ‘Across the River’. It began:
When for me the silent oar Parts the Silent River, And I stand upon the shore Of the strange Forever, Shall I miss the loved and known? Shall I vainly seek mine own?
The poem is a meditation on a problem that exercised many people in Larcom’s time: shall we meet and know our loved-ones in heaven? The publication of Darwin’s The Origin of Species in...
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MLA style (see MLA Style Manual and Guide to Scholarly Publishing, 3rd Ed.)
. "When for me the silent oar."
The Canterbury Dictionary of Hymnology. Canterbury Press. Web. 12 Feb. 2026.<
http://www.hymnology.co.uk/w/when-for-me-the-silent-oar>.
Chicago style (see The Chicago Manual of Style, 16th Ed.)
. "When for me the silent oar."
The Canterbury Dictionary of Hymnology. Canterbury Press, accessed February 12, 2026,
http://www.hymnology.co.uk/w/when-for-me-the-silent-oar.