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The Liminal Marsh
The Liminal Marsh
between land and sea
"Oh, what is abroad in the marsh and the terminal sea?
Somehow my soul seems suddenly free
From the weighing of fate and the sad discussion of sin,
By the length and the breadth and the sweep of the marshes of Glynn."
Sidney Lanier, The Marshes of Glynn, 1878
In Sidney Lanier’s poem, the salt marsh becomes a spiritual and poetic threshold—a place of openness, reflection, and reverence. Lanier, writing from the banks of the very landscape he describes, casts the marsh not merely as a natural setting but as a metaphysical space: one that invites self-examination, praise, and communion. His work has inspired artists and writers to find a spring of meaning along the Georgia coast.
The Marsh Lights ("Will-o’-the-Wisps")
The Marsh Lights ("Will-o’-the-Wisps")
These ghostly lights are said to float just above the marsh surface at night, luring travelers deeper into the wetlands where they might become lost forever.
The tale's origins may be in European folklore, they’re the souls of the dead, trapped between worlds.
In the American South, especially among Gullah-Geechee traditions, they can be the spirits of enslaved people seeking rest or warning the living.
Scientifically, they’ve been connected to phosphorescence—caused by gases from decaying plant matter.
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