High Flight

On Laughter Silvered Wings, a painting of Magee's Spitfire V by Keith Ferris (Copyright © 2001 Keith Ferris)

High Flight

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. . . .

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.

— John Gillespie Magee, Jr (1922-1941)

John Gillespie Magee, Jr was born in Shanghai on June 9^th 1922 to an American father and British mother, who were missionaries in China. In 1940, after the outbreak of World War II, he joined the Royal Canadian Air Force (RCAF) and became a pilot. Within that year, he was posted to the No 412 Fighter Squadron at RAF Digby in Lincolnshire, England.

Magee was inspired to write High Flight on September 3^rd 1941 during a high-altitude test flight of a new version of the Supermarine Spitefire, the Mk V. He sent the poem in a letter to his parents noting "I am enclosing a verse I wrote the other day. It started at 30,000 feet, and was finished soon after I landed."

Three months later on 11^th December 1941 he was killed at age 19, when his Spitfire V (markings VZ-H) collided with another aircraft in the clouds over the village of Roxholm near Digby. He is buried at Scopwick Cemetary, Lincolnshire.

The version of the poem reproduced here is that transcribed by Dave English from Magee’s letter now stored in the Library of Congress. English notes that most printed versions use "... even eagle" but the original seems to be "... ever eagle," with similar penmanship to the preceding "never."

High Flight is a favorite among aviators and others who yearn for the freedom of flight. It is the official poem of the RCAF and RAF. On January 28^th 1986, US President Ronald Reagan quoted from the poem in his poignant address to the nation on the loss of the Space Shuttle Challenger STS-51-L.

Two other poems by Magee, Sonnet to Rupert Brooke and Per Ardua can be found here.

Great quotations on aviation can be found at Dave England's website, SkyGod.com.