Matthew Arnold On hearing him read his Poems in Boston
Katharine Lee Bates 1859 (Falmouth) – 1929 (Wellesley)
A stranger, schooled to gentle arts,
He stept before the curious throng;
His path into our waiting hearts
Already paved by song.
Full well we knew his choristers,
Whose plaintive voices haunt our rest,
Those sable-vested harbingers
Of melancholy guest.
We smiled on him for love of these,
With eyes that swift grew dim to scan
Beneath the veil of courteous ease
The faith-forsaken man.
To his wan gaze the weary shows
And fashions of our vain estate,
Our shallow pain and false repose,
Our barren love and hate,
Are shadows in a land of graves,
Where creeds, the bubbles of a dream,
Flash each and fade, like melting waves
Upon a moonlight stream.
Yet loyal to his own despair,
Erect beneath a darkened sky,
He deems the austerest truth more fair
Than any gracious lie;
And stands, heroic, patient, sage,
With hopeless hands that bind the sheaf,
Claiming God's work with His wage,
The bard of unbelief.
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Submitted on May 13, 2011
Modified on March 05, 2023
- 48 sec read
- 110 Views
Quick analysis:
Scheme | ABAB ACXC DEDE FGFG HIHI JKJK LMLM |
---|---|
Closest metre | Iambic tetrameter |
Characters | 1,028 |
Words | 160 |
Stanzas | 7 |
Stanza Lengths | 4, 4, 4, 4, 4, 4, 4 |
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"Matthew Arnold On hearing him read his Poems in Boston" Poetry.com. STANDS4 LLC, 2024. Web. 1 Jun 2024. <https://www.poetry.com/poem/24873/matthew-arnold-on-hearing-him-read-his-poems-in-boston>.
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