Have you heard "America the Beautiful" sung recently? More than one verse?
One of the verses includes the line "Thine alabaster cities gleam". Who knows what an alabaster city is?
There is a city in Alabama called Alabaster. That must be fun to repeat to others when questioned.
Why did Katherine Lee Bates use the word 'alabaster'? I wonder!
The poet wrote it following her trip to the Rockies and Pike's Peak in 1893. Spacious skies, purple mountain majesties, amber waves of grain; I can vision all that. But alabaster . . . ?
The word is defined as a hard, white, usually translucent gypsum or a calcite. I'd say it's a rock that light passes through to some degree. It is often carved into vases, ornaments and paperweights like the one I have. Mine is shaped like a four-leaf clover and painted as one.
Now, think about 1893. My impression is that most cities were filled with wooden structures at that time. Translucent rock might be a mental picture you get thinking of concrete structures with glass windows all around. I could call them 'alabaster; but I think there were few if any buildings like that at that time.
So, here is your task. Figure out why she did it. Quench my curiosity.
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