Read "The Calypso Borealis" by John Muir and be ready to discuss his tone and affinity with nature. Muir's poem has a melancholy and adventurous tone to it, inviting the reader to reflect not just on nature but also on oneself. Throughout the lengthy journey, he finds himself suffering and isolated. Yet even in his pain and loneliness, he is inspired to praise God for all He has created. Here are some lines that describe his tone: "But soon he saw / A gleam of light, and then / A portentous shape was nigh; / It paused upon the shore, / And raised its voice before / The darkness fell." This shows that Muir feels joy when he sees the sun again after being trapped in the ice for months but that this is quickly overshadowed by grief when he realizes that his friend has died. He goes on to compare the beauty of the Arctic landscape to that of Greece and Egypt, two places that many people visit but which never fail to inspire awe in anyone who sees them for the first time: "Nor did I forget / The mighty glaciers wide / That glide from pole to pole, / And swallow up their own / Before they meet another glacier / To slide into the sea."