Ode on the Opening of the Panama-Pacific

Ode on the Opening of the Panama-Pacific is a poem by George Sterling (1869-1926), the American poet who was one of the leading figures of the early twentieth century San Francisco and Carmel literary world. The poem was written for the opening of the Panama-Pacific International Exposition held in San Francisco in 1915 to celebrate the completion of the Panama Canal the previous year.

The Panama-Pacific Exposition was a major American cultural event. The Panama Canal had been completed in August 1914 and the exposition served both as celebration of the canal and as San Francisco’s announcement that the city had recovered from the devastating 1906 earthquake. Various American poets and writers produced commemorative work for the exposition and Sterling’s ode was one of the more notable poetic contributions.

Sterling was the central figure of the Bohemian Club and the broader San Francisco literary world of the early twentieth century. His protégé Clark Ashton Smith and his close friend Ambrose Bierce were among the various California writers whose careers Sterling supported.