Alice Freeman Palmer Poems

Alice Freeman Palmer was an American educator and poet who became the Dean of Woman at the University of Chicago. She is considered to be a model of the New Woman. She composed many of her poems while traveling through Europe with her husband.

The Butterfly

by Alice Freeman Palmer

‘The Butterfly’ by Alice Freeman Palmer is one of the best poems concerning the beauty of a butterfly. This poem is a poetic longing for being like a butterfly, beautiful, and heavenly.

I hold you at last in my hand,

Exquisite child of the air.

Can I ever understand

How you grew to be so fair?

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