It was first published in The Empire magazine on 27 May 1851,[1] and later in the poet's collection titled Poems (1883).

The Oxford Companion to Australian Literature calls this Harpur's "best-known and most-anthologised descriptive poem."

"[2] eNotes.com states that the Harpur's poem "reflects the influence of Wordsworth, but also the independent, inventive spirit that would characterize most of his works.

"[3] Michael Griffith, in discussing early Australian colonial poetry says that Harpur "manages to capture the magic of stillness, along with the miraculous impressions of the life of nature.

Few Australian poets, even today, have his grasp of the way sound and sense can come so closely together.