In memoriam Warner Kenyon, August 29, 1901--April 20, 1998
Oh! I have slipped the surly bonds of Earth
And danced the skies on laughter-silvered wings;
Sunward I've climbed, and joined the tumbling mirth
Of sun-split clouds, — and done a hundred things
You have not dreamed of — wheeled and soared and swung
High in the sunlit silence. Hov'ring there,
I've chased the shouting wind along, and flung
My eager craft through footless halls of air. . . .
And danced the skies on laughter-silvered wings;
Sunward I've climbed, and joined the tumbling mirth
Of sun-split clouds, — and done a hundred things
You have not dreamed of — wheeled and soared and swung
High in the sunlit silence. Hov'ring there,
I've chased the shouting wind along, and flung
My eager craft through footless halls of air. . . .
Up, up the long, delirious burning blue
I've topped the wind-swept heights with easy grace
Where never lark, or ever eagle flew —
And, while with silent, lifting mind I've trod
The high untrespassed sanctity of space,
Put out my hand, and touched the face of God.
I've topped the wind-swept heights with easy grace
Where never lark, or ever eagle flew —
And, while with silent, lifting mind I've trod
The high untrespassed sanctity of space,
Put out my hand, and touched the face of God.
— John Gillespie Magee, Jr.
This sonnet was written by John Gillespie Magee, Jr., a young American pilot who went to Canada to enlist in the Royal Canadian Air Force and fight Nazi Germany before the United States officially entered World War II. He flew Spitfires during 1941 and met his death in a crash on December 11, 1941. High Flight, written on September 3, 1941, is considered the most famous poem written about aviation in English.
For more information about Magee and the background to the sonnet, see the entry on High Flight on the Great Aviation Quotes website. Two portraits of John Gillespie Magee, Jr., are posted on the French-language site below.
Pour les Francophones, voir la traduction de High Flight.
Revised May 23, 2011
Photo courtesy William E. Martin
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