Sauk County Historical Society

High Flight

Oh, I have slipped the surly bonds of earth,

 And danced the skies on laughter-silvered wings;

 Sunwards I’ve climbed and joined the tumbling mirth

 Of sun-split clouds – and done a thousand things

 You have not dreamed of - wheeled and soared and swung 

 High in the sunlit silence. Hovering 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 even 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.

The term barnstormer was also applied to pilots who flew throughout the country selling airplane rides, usually operating from a farmer’s field for a day or two before moving on. “Barnstorming season” ran from early spring until after the harvest and county fairs in the fall.

The term barnstorming comes from an earlier American tradition of rural political campaigns.