Grade 6: "The Peace of Wild Things" by Wendell Berry

Wendell Berry's poem celebrates the peace and healing that can be found by spending time in nature.
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Full list of words from this list:

words only definitions & notes
  1. despair
    a state in which all hope is lost or absent
    Listen
    When despair for the world grows in me
    and I wake in the night at the least sound
    in fear of what my life and my children’s lives may be,
    I go and lie down where the wood drake
    rests in his beauty on the water, and the great heron feeds.
  2. wake
    cause to become conscious
    Listen
    When despair for the world grows in me
    and I wake in the night at the least sound
    in fear of what my life and my children’s lives may be,
    I go and lie down where the wood drake
    rests in his beauty on the water, and the great heron feeds.
  3. sound
    the particular auditory effect produced by a given cause
    Listen
    When despair for the world grows in me
    and I wake in the night at the least sound
    in fear of what my life and my children’s lives may be,
    I go and lie down where the wood drake
    rests in his beauty on the water, and the great heron feeds.
  4. heron
    a gray or white wading bird with long neck and long legs
    Listen
    When despair for the world grows in me
    and I wake in the night at the least sound
    in fear of what my life and my children’s lives may be,
    I go and lie down where the wood drake
    rests in his beauty on the water, and the great heron feeds.
  5. tax
    use or strain to the limit; make excessive demands on
    I come into the peace of wild things
    who do not tax their lives with forethought
    of grief.
  6. forethought
    planning or plotting in advance of acting
    I come into the peace of wild things
    who do not tax their lives with forethought
    of grief.
  7. grief
    something that causes great unhappiness
    I come into the peace of wild things
    who do not tax their lives with forethought
    of grief.
  8. presence
    the immediate proximity of someone or something
    I come into the presence of still water.
    And I feel above me the day-blind stars
    waiting with their light.
  9. blind
    unable to see
    I come into the presence of still water.
    And I feel above me the day- blind stars
    waiting with their light.
  10. grace
    a disposition to kindness and compassion
    For a time
    I rest in the grace of the world, and am free.
Created on Fri Mar 27 16:24:32 EDT 2026 (updated Wed Apr 08 13:34:21 EDT 2026)

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