Types of Poetry: Lyrical, Reflective, Metaphysical

My Room

2010-02-14T04:25:00.000-08:00

The clean white walls
And the blue dotted patches
At some intervals,

The yellow-purple clock
Hanging down on an old nail
Blow the backpack,

The stone-marble
Holding out my TV for a long time
Without getting irritated,

The bed Stared annoying at
The incessantly tik-tak-tic talking clock,

And more,
The ceiling-fan
Added the extra music
To the rhythm of the clock
And the dust in the room
Danced in their tune

It's my room - a musical studio of annoyance!

Original Source:
http://www.voicesnet.org/displayonepoem.aspx?poemid=156706

Poet Laureate - Defining the Title

2010-02-14T04:22:00.000-08:00

Poet Laureate - Defining the Title

By Rakesh Ramubhai Patel

Poet Laureate is the formal title used in both the United States and Britain. This term "laureate" is derived from the Latin word "laurea" (laurel). In ancient times, the laurel wreath was sacred to Apollo, the Greek god of music and poetry. Let us see what the title means and who are holding this prestigious title.

Who Was the First Official British Laureate?
The poet laureate, in Britain, is named by the sovereign as a member of the royal family and is charged with the making of suitable verses for court and state occasions. It was Ben Jonson who obviously fulfilled this role in 1616 under James I. But the first official British poet to get this title was John Dryden in 1668.

The Longest Tenancy of the Title held by Tennyson:
Poets were appointed to the post for life till 1999, when Andrew Motion was offered a ten-year term. The longest occupancy, from 1850 to 1896, was held by Lord Alfred Tennyson. The U.S. Congress made the office of poet laureate as poetry consultant to the Library of Congress in 1985.

Women Laureates:
The poet laureate holds the title for one year. And during this period of time, he or she needs to give lecture and one public poetry reading. Robert Penn Warren, in February 1986, was named first for this title. Though all the British laureates have been men, Mona Van Duyn became the first woman to hold the office in 1992. Rita Dove was the first black writer in 1993.
Rakesh Patel is an aspiring poet, freelance writer, self-published author and teacher. Read my blog http://englishliterature99.wordpress.com.

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Rakesh_Ramubhai_Patel
http://EzineArticles.com/?Poet-Laureate---Defining-the-Title&id=3087829

What is Onomatopoeia? A Guide to Learning the Examples of Onomatopoeia Poetry

2010-01-16T22:18:00.000-08:00

What is Onomatopoeia? A Guide to Learning the Examples of Onomatopoeia Poetry

This article throws light on the rhythm and sounds in poetry and will familiarize you with the examples onomatopoeia poems.Understanding the Examples of Onomatopoeia Poems

Poetry is remarkably differentiated from prose for its sound and rhythm. The application of onomatopoeia in poetry makes it more melodious and interesting. In this article, you will learn how onomatopoeia poems create significant effects!

What’s the Meaning of Onomatopoeia?

It is the Greek word “onomatopoeia” meaning ‘word-making’ that signifies the term. By way of representing the sound, it indicates the word for example, the sound “meow” represent the animal cat. When you pronounce the words like “buzz”, or “bang”, a particular object will come to you mind. In other words, through the representation of the sound, it suggests the object or the word.

What Are the Examples of Onomatopoeia Poetry that You Find in Literature?

In order to give the writing a poetic touch, the poets and writers often make use of onomatopoeia in their writings. Alfred Tennyson’s poem “Come Down, O Maid” (1847) “Come Down, O Maid” (1847) gives us the feel of the effect of sound produced by the humming bees:

The moan of doves in immemorial elms,
And murmuring of innumerable bees.

Robert Browning also makes use of some distasteful sounds, in “Meeting at Night”:

As I gain the cove with pushing prow,
And quench its speed i’ the slushy sand.
A tape at the pane, the quick sharp scratch
And blue spurt of a lighted match…

Words and Phrases in English Language that are Onomatopoeic:

In English languages you must have come across several words of expressions of this kind. Here are some of the onomatopoeic expressions in this language:

1. Words like “beep”, “hiccup”, “bang”, “splash” etc. are very common.

2. Phrases like “the cackling hen”, “the humming bee”, “the whizzing arrow” etc. are familiar to all.

3. Sounds of machine just like “vroom”, “beep-beep” etc.

4. Animal sounds such as “quack” for duck, “meow” for cat are very common.

5. Certain sound like the cuckoo, the whooping crane etc. remind us of birds.

These are some of the common expressions that you find in day-to-day life are certainly onomatopoeic words. One of the common words is word “zip” or “zipper” that signifies an object that we call fastener.

Thus, in a broader sense, you can say that onomatopoeia suggests or denotes through the sound. In creative writing, it is used to create an appealing effect on the reader and it is perfectly true with poetry. Its use in poetry and versification gives it melodious touch and therefore one can enjoy reading every types of poetry!
Content Source: Bukisa - What is Onomatopoeia? A Guide to Learning the Examples of Onomatopoeia Poetry

Walking Down...

2010-01-09T21:44:00.000-08:00

Waling down the path of challenge
With letting go of useless baggage
Of whims and desires

Being as light as a little feather
Which can sway to the tune
Of Gentle breeze

And like ants, never fatigued by failures
Go ahead climbing the ups 'n downs
To reach the Light of bliss

Copyright © Rakesh Patel

Imtiaz Dharker Reading Poems

2010-01-09T21:30:00.000-08:00

Imtiaz Dharkar

Blessing

The skin cracks like a pod.
There never is enough water.

Imagine the drip of it,
the small splash, echo
in a tin mug,
the voice of a kindly god.

Sometimes, the sudden rush
of fortune. The municipal pipe bursts,
silver crashes to the ground
and the flow has found
a roar of tongues. From the huts,
a congregation : every man woman
child for streets around
butts in, with pots,
brass, copper, aluminium,
plastic buckets,
frantic hands,

and naked children
screaming in the liquid sun,
their highlights polished to perfection,
flashing light,
as the blessing sings
over their small bones.

They'll Say : 'She Must Be From Another Country'

When I can’t comprehend
why they’re burning books
or slashing paintings,
when they can’t bear to look
at god’s own nakedness,
when they ban the film
and gut the seats to stop the play
and I ask why
they just smile and say,
‘She must be
from another country.’

When I speak on the phone
and the vowel sounds are off
when the consonants are hard
and they should be soft,
they’ll catch on at once
they’ll pin it down
they’ll explain it right away
to their own satisfaction,
they’ll cluck their tongues
and say,
‘She must be
from another country.’

When my mouth goes up
instead of down,
when I wear a tablecloth
to go to town,
when they suspect I’m black
or hear I’m gay
they won’t be surprised,
they’ll purse their lips
and say,
‘She must be
from another country.’

When I eat up the olives
and spit out the pits
when I yawn at the opera
in the tragic bits
when I pee in the vineyard
as if it were Bombay,
flaunting my bare ass
covering my face
laughing through my hands
they’ll turn away,
shake their heads quite sadly,
‘She doesn’t know any better,’
they’ll say,
‘She must be
from another country.’

Maybe there is a country
where all of us live,
all of us freaks
who aren’t able to give
our loyalty to fat old fools,
the crooks and thugs
who wear the uniform
that gives them the right
to wave a flag,
puff out their chests,
put their feet on our necks,
and break their own rules.

But from where we are
it doesn’t look like a country,
it’s more like the cracks
that grow between borders
behind their backs.
That’s where I live.
And I’ll be happy to say,
‘I never learned your customs.
I don’t remember your language
or know your ways.
I must be
from another country.’

Mother Nature

2010-01-09T11:04:00.000-08:00

The roof of the sky over my head,
Like caring hands of a father,
Shower grace all the time

And,
The bed of grass under my feet,
Like warm lap of a mother,
Shower love on me…

“Where are they now?
Lost in the mist?”
I don’t know
I’m imprisoned in the four walls of my own house
Musing over my lost parents…

My heart sobbed, and a thrill of pain
Run though my cold blood,
I screamed and awoke
From the nightmare.

Thank God!
You showed me the future…a child without parents
A barren land and a colorless life.

Oh Mother Nature, I will serve you!

A Child

2010-01-09T10:57:00.000-08:00

In innocent eyes of a child

There’s ebb and flow of surprise

At one moment,

There’s simplicity

And at the next,

There’s mystery unfathomable

If you slip into the eyes of a child

You’re lost

In the eternal world of bliss!

The Language of Poetry

2009-12-26T21:07:00.000-08:00

One characteristic that makes poetry different from ordinary language is its use of various kind of repetition.

1. One of them is called poetic meter. It is basically the repetition of a regular pattern of beats.

In poetry written in accentual-syllabic meters, both the number of beats and syllables reappear in a set-pattern. The most frequently used accentual-syllabic meter in English language poetry is iambic pentameter where unaccented and accented syllables alternate in lines of 10 syllables.

2. Other type of repetition in poetry is rhyme. It is the repetition of sound clusters; assonance i.e. the echoing of vowels; and consonance i.e. the echoing of consonants.

3. Most of the early poetry includes refrains. It means the repetition of phrases or lines.

4. The effects created by the poetic line may vary remarkably depending on its patters of repetition, its length, and whether the sentence stops at the end of the line - often called end-stopped or carries over the end of the line - that is enjambed.

5. Most earliest examples of Old English poetry characterizes an accentual line with 4 equally strong beats, with 3 of the 4 stressed words allied by the recurrence of sounds, often called alliteration, and a strong pause in the middle of the line that is called a caesura.

A Soulful Journey!

2009-11-10T03:35:00.000-08:00

A Soulful Journey!

I walk down the path of uncertainty

To reach the abode of peace
Like an untamed animal my mind revolts
Against all odds that befall on the path
I behold the both - fair and foe
Merging into one another
I sometimes fail to know
The way of the world - which is fair and who’s foe?
The dust and debris cling to my feet
Wanting to follow my path along
Fatigued and exhausted,
I spread my hands out and close my eyes…
I could see the light
Showing the path way back to home

...from Reflections: A Collection of Short Poetry by Rakesh Patel

Snowmen by Agha Shahid Ali

2009-10-05T22:12:00.000-07:00

POEM
Snowmen

by Agha Shahid Ali

My ancestor, a man
of Himalayan snow,
came to Kashmir from Samarkand,
carrying a bag
of whale bones:
heirlooms from sea funerals.
His skeleton
carved from glaciers, his breath
arctic,
he froze women in his embrace.
His wife thawed into stony water,
her old age a clear
evaporation.

This heirloom,
his skeleton under my skin, passed
from son to grandson,
generations of snowmen on my back.
They tap every year on my window,
their voices hushed to ice.

No, they won’t let me out of winter,
and I’ve promised myself,
even if I’m the last snowman,
that I’ll ride into spring
on their melting shoulders.

Poetry: An Introduction

2009-07-04T06:07:00.000-07:00

Image by purplejavatroll via Flickr

Poetry is a form of literature, written or spoken, that accentuates rhythm, other convoluted patterns of imagery and sound, and the other possible ways that words can suggest meaning.

The word poetry itself derives its meaning from a Greek word, poesis, meaning “creating” or “making.” While ordinary speech and writing, that we call prose, are structured in sentences and paragraphs, poetry is composed in lines as well as in sentences, in stanzas.

The oldest genres for categorizing poetry are epic, lyric, a long narrative poem often centered around a national hero, and a short poem conveying intense emotion.

With a course of the time, new kinds of poetry composition developed to create greater possibilities of expression. In the 20th century, poets have ever more used the language of everyday speech and created new forms ignoring the usual rules of poetry.

Much poetry is available in written form, and at its deepest level, poetry attempts to convey unspeakable sides of human experience.

Poets all through the ages have defined their art in their own ways. A French poet Stéphane Mallarmé, at the end of the 19th century, wrote that “Poetry is the purification of the language of the tribe”. For Hegel, poetry was “the universal realization of the art of the mind.”

Fabliau – Short Satirical or Comic Tale in Verse

2009-05-02T10:40:00.000-07:00

Fabliau is a medieval form of poetry - short satiric or comic tale in verse. It deals with middle class or lower class characters. It’s one of the favorite themes is the cuckolding of a stupid husband.

The form of fabliau flourished remarkably in the 12th and 13th centuries in France and became very much popular in England during the 14th century. Chaucer was one of the remarkable poets who wrote such fabliaux and “Miller’s Tale” is one of such brilliant examples. He also wrote several serious short stories in verse. His “The Pardoner’s Tale” gives the beautiful account of Death and the rioters. This form or type of poetry is no longer in vogue but is surely of great value to those who love poetry!

How Will You Compose Poetry?

2009-04-22T04:41:00.001-07:00

Do you like poetry? Well, songs and lyrics are dear to everyone and become the reason for humming to those who love them.

Some like to read poetry, some like to study. Some really take delight in composing poems! But the question is, is it an easy to compose poetry? How will you write poems?

Really speaking, composing beautiful poetry is a painstaking task! You cannot compose a poem unless you’re inspired. As Wordsworth says, “Poetry is the spontaneous overflow of powerful feelings…recollected in tranquility”. On the contrary, you haven’t the command over the language in which you aspire to write, you cannot write them. The main thing is to follow your mind and try to translate your feelings and thoughts into composing a song or poem.

American Confessional Poetry Movement: New Type Of Poetry

2009-03-07T04:12:00.000-08:00

Confessional poetry is a type of lyric and narrative verse. This form of poetry revived and set in motion by the poem “Life Studies (1959)” written by Robert Lowell. It deals with intimate experiences and facts of poets own life.

This form of confessional poetry was in vogue to show the rebellion against the demand of impersonality advocated by T. S. Eliot and the New Critics. It deals with secular type of subject-matter. It is in contrast with the poems of Romantic Period, especially differs from Wordsworth’s “Tintern Abbey”.

Confessional poems were written by Sylvia Plath, Allen Ginsberg, John Berryman and American confessional poetry movement began.

Examples of Concrete Poetry: Visual Representation of a Text on Page

2009-02-28T08:10:00.000-08:00

Concrete poetry is sometimes called pattern poetry because of its visual shape in which a text is represented on the page. It is very ancient form of poetry which was used by some Greek poets who shaped a text in such a way that looked like an object.

Recently, the vogue of concrete poetry is revived by the Swiss poet Eugen Gomringer in 1953. The poets of such poetry make the use of reduced language which is typed or printed in such a way that the visible text appears to be a physical or concrete object. Moreover, they use a variety of font types and of different sizes to produce different images.

America had its own tradition of pattern poetry as it occurs the works in e. e. cummings for instance, “r-p-o-p-h-e-s-s-a-g-r” is nothing but a leaping insect called “grasshopper” as if letters themselves crawl like an insect!

Some Americans who have been influenced by this form or examples of concrete poetry are Jonathan Williams, Emmett Williams, and Mary Ellen Solt.

What to Read:
To learn more about the collections of concrete poems in various languages, read Emmett Williams, ed., An Anthology of Concrete Poetry (1967); and Mary Ellen Solt, ed., Concrete Poetry: A World View (1968)

Romantic Poets: The Pre-cursors of Romanticism

2009-01-24T08:43:00.000-08:00

During the last quarters of the 18th century, a reaction to classicism stared and some of the poets – James Thomson, Gray, Collins, Blake, Cowper, Leigh Hunt, Robert Burns, and Goldsmith - began to react covertly towards the poetry of this age. These poets adopted different attitude and temperament than the classicists who paved the way for the new movement, the new age called Romanticism. As a result, these poets were called the pre-cursors of Romanticism.

These romantic poets of this age tried to break the tradition of classicism and wanted to be more natural. The subject-matter of their poetry was different and they once again brought back the rural life at the centre. Moreover, they were interested in the mystery of life and nature. They did not like satire.

James Thomson (1700-1748)

Thomson’s “The Seasons (1726-1730)” –written in blank verse - is the marker of romantic movement. He belongs among the pioneers of Romanticism. In this poem, he describes nature with various seasons – Winter, Summer, Spring, and Autumn. The poet identifies his life with nature. This poem, therefore, anticipates the poetry of Wordsworth.

Thomas Gray (1716-1771)

Gray is famous for his “Elegy Written in the Country Churchyard”. This poem deals with the subject-matter of life and death. This poem shows sympathy for the poor and oppressed in general. There is a humanitarian approach in this poem which becomes one of the keynotes of romantic poetry. Gray, in this way, anticipates the poetry of Shelley in his attitude towards death.

William Collins (1721-1759)

Collins was the friend of Thomson. His first work, “Oriental Eclogues (1742)” is romantic in feeling. All his later works are romantic in thought and expression. His “Ode on the Popular Superstitions of the Highlands (1750)” is a special event in the romantic revival for it introduced a new world of fairies, witches, and medieval kings.

William Blake (1757-1827)

The mystic poet Blake anticipates the poetry of Shelly and Coleridge. His poetry is concerned with life, sin, and death. His poems “The Tiger” and “The Lamb” show the mystery of existence. “Songs of Innocence” and “Songs of Experience” reflects two diverse views of the human soul.

Robert Burns (1759-1796)

He is famous for his songs. For the subject-matter, he goes back to the middle ages – its glory, pageantry, and chivalry. In this respect, he anticipates Sir Walter Scott. His songs are based on romance. His love song, “A Red Red Rose” is quite popular. His other poems “The Twa Dogs”, “Address to the Deil”, and “Halloween” show the spirit of romantic revival.

Indian English Poetry: Studying A. K. Ramanujan’s Poem "Self-portrait"

2008-12-13T06:33:00.000-08:00

The following Indian English poetry is short and simple, yet conveys a reflective thought of one's existence.

Self-Portrait

"I resemble everyone
but myself, and sometimes see
in shop-windows,
despite the well-known laws
of optics,
the portrait of a stranger,
date unknown, often signed in a corner
by my father. "

A. K. Ramanujan is much simpler poet compared to Mahapatra. He often writes about his family, his being in abroad, and his feeling for his coming back in India.

Self-Portrait is an introspective poetry. By looking at the mirror, in fact the poet is looking at himself. He feels the loss of identity – who am I? – is the question arises from within. He does not recognize himself and poses as a stranger. His looking at the window or the mirror creates the picture of the portrait, like a painting of a stranger.

It is obvious that when a painter paints he would give the date to it. But here the date is missing! But the poet finds his father’s signature. The portrait of the stranger is prepared by his father. The poet’s parents are the artist, the creator of his portrait. His father “signed in a corner” of the portrait but still, still he feels the loss of identity. He visualizes an outsider, a stranger within.

What is Sonnet Sequence?

2008-12-07T01:52:00.000-08:00

It is interesting topic to know what a sonnet sequence is. It means a cluster of sonnets, as the term suggests, arranged in an order. The authors of Elizabethan age attempted to group such sonnets together into a sequence of similar themes. Edmund Spenser wrote such sequence of sonnet called Amoretti (1595).

If you make your reading deeper, you will notice that William Wordsworth’s The River Duddon, D. G. Rossetti’s House of Life, William Ellery Leonard’s Two lives are some of the fine examples of sonnet cycle or sequence. Moreover, George Meredith’s Modern Love (1862) which deals with unhappy marriage, is sometimes referred to as sonnet sequence despite its sixteen lines form.

In modern times, Dylan Thomas’s Altarwise by Owl-light (1936) is a beautiful example of such sequence of ten sonnets dealing with meditations on poet’s life.

The Seasons—A Reflective Poem About the Glorification of Nature

2008-12-06T11:53:00.001-08:00

The Seasons is a poem in blank verse by James Thomson, a one of the pioneer of Romanticism. It is in four books, one for each season, and a final “Hymn” by James Thomson himself. It was published in 1726-30.

Summarizing the Poem

“Winter (1726)”, the first of the four books, describes the rain, wind and snow. It also describes a man perishing in the snowdrift white and how his family uneasily awaits him. The poem depicts an evening spent by a student in a village and city. It gives a beautiful picture of wolves descending from the mountains.

The next is “Summer (1727)” which shows the progress of a summer day with the scenes like haymaking, sheep shearing and bathing. It consists of a picture of the Torrid Zone and two narrative episodes of the lover Celadon whose Amelia is stuck by lighting, and of Damon who beholds Musidora bathing.

“Spring (1728)” describes the influence of the season on vegetables, on inanimate objects, brute beasts, on man. The poet beautifully describes the charming picture of angels.

“Automn (1730)” givers a dramatic picture of shooting and hunting, and condemns these sports for their barbarity. The poet describes the reaping of the fruits of the earth, the migration of birds, and the delight of the country just after the harvest is gathered in. This book also includes the episode of Palemon who falls in love with Lavinia.

“Hymn” to nature is the concluding part of this poem. It’s purpose is to communicate a vision of nature as something revelatory of God.

Appreciating the Poem

The Seasons was actually not composed to set forth a philosophy. Rather, Thomson's aim was to depict external nature in a way which would combine realism of observation and innermost sensibility without sacrificing that ideal of mostly generalized normality which classicism had imposed upon poet.

The delight in fox-hunting is well described along with the concern about the feeling of a rabbit pursued by the hunter. The poet shows enthusiasm of good works here in this poem.

The poem exhibits the poet Thomson’s ideas about man and nature. The moral function of the poem is to show the fact that external nature is important to him in its moral significance to man.

Lyrical Poetry: Robert Burn’s “A Red Rose” – A Pure Lyric of Love

2008-11-28T23:25:00.000-08:00

A poet of lyric poetry expresses his own thoughts and sentiments in short, easy and simple form. Such poetry is very easy to understand compared to what is called “metaphysical” poetry but is difficult to compose.

Lyrics come directly from the heart of the poet and therefore can go straight to the heart of the reader. Browning’s Home Thoughts from Abroad and Mansfield’s Sea Fever are some of the powerful lyrics in the history of English literature. Both lyrics express the feeling of love and longings for home and places.

The favorite topic of lyrics and lyrical poetry has always been love. Robert Burn’s poem A Red Rose is best example of such lyric of love.

A Red Rose

“O, my love is like a red, red rose,
That’s newly sprung in June.
O, my love is like the melodie
That’s sweetly played in tune.

A fair art thou, my bonny lass,
So deep in love am I,
And I will love thee still, my dear,
Till all the seas gang dry.

Till all the seas gang dry, my dear,
And the rocks melt wi’ the sun!
And I will love thee still, my dear,
While the sands of life shall run.

And fare thee well, my only love!
And fare thee well a while!
And I will come again, my love,
Tho’ it were ten thousand mile.”

-- Robert Burn

It is purely lyric poem which is entirely of heart and not of intellect. But you can imagine that much labor and skills might have gone after its composition. It touches the heart of the reader. Because of its directness and simplicity, is has secured its place as one of the greatest lyrical poetry of the world.

The Five Greatest Reflective Poetry

2008-11-28T23:21:00.000-08:00

The five well-known and most loved poems namely Wordsworth’s ‘Tintern Abbey’ and ‘Immortality Ode’, and Keats’s three odes: ‘To a Nightingale’, ‘On a Grecian Urn’ and ‘To autumn’ are among the greatest reflective poetry of the world.

No one can deny that Tennyson’s In Memoriam (1850) is also the most important reflective poem of the Victorian era. It describes how the poet’s sadness and bitterness gradually disappear with the course of the time under the influence of Christian thought.

Reflective Poetry – Gray’s "Elegy Written in a Country Churchyard"

2008-11-27T04:26:00.000-08:00

Reflective poetry, compared to lyrics, is longer, more thoughtful and complicated. Pope’s Essay on Man and most of Wordsworth’s most of the poetry, especially Prelude, are reflective. Thomas Gray’s Elegy is one of the most remarkable reflective and meditative poems of English literature.

Elegy Written in a Country Churchyard was composed in 1750 in quatrains of ten-syllable lines. The poem shows the reflective mood of the poet. He is moved by the sight of the tombs of his forefathers and their humble deeds. The poem ends with a personal note where the poet sees his supposed death and his burial in the churchyard, and the epitaph of his own grave.

The greatness and popularity of this reflective poetry lies in his universal approach. The pathos of human life and the associate of a village church set in a distant landscape of southern England are depicted in very meditative and reflective mode.

The poet gives personal touch to the poem. He lingers in the churchyard and reflects upon the question of life and death. Gray shows sympathetic approach to this intricacy of life-and-death and develops a humanitarian enthusiasm that becomes one of the important aspects of romantic poetry.

There is no clear-cut differentiating line between lyrical and reflective poetry. For instance, if Wordsworth in his poem the Rainbow had described the influence of nature on man then it would have been reflective poetry rather than being lyrical poetry. These two are often overlaps.

Enjoy reading the following poem by Gray and appreciate yourself how it is reflective poem.

"ELEGY WRITTEN IN A COUNTRY CHURCH-YARD"

The curfew tolls the knell of parting day,
The lowing herd winds slowly o'er the lea,
The ploughman homeward plods his weary way,
And leaves the world to darkness and to me.

Now fades the glimmering landscape on the sight,
And all the air a solemn stillness holds,
Save where the beetle wheels his droning flight,
And drowsy tinklings lull the distant folds:

Save that from yonder ivy-mantled tower
The moping owl does to the moon complain
Of such as, wandering near her secret bower,
Molest her ancient solitary reign.

Beneath those rugged elms, that yew-tree's shade,
Where heaves the turf in many a mouldering heap,
Each in his narrow cell for ever laid,
The rude Forefathers of the hamlet sleep.

The breezy call of incense-breathing morn,
The swallow twittering from the straw-built shed,
The cock's shrill clarion, or the echoing horn,
No more shall rouse them from their lowly bed.

For them no more the blazing hearth shall burn,
Or busy housewife ply her evening care:
No children run to lisp their sire's return,
Or climb his knees the envied kiss to share,

Oft did the harvest to their sickle yield,
Their furrow oft the stubborn glebe has broke;
How jocund did they drive their team afield!
How bow'd the woods beneath their sturdy stroke!

Let not Ambition mock their useful toil,
Their homely joys, and destiny obscure;
Nor Grandeur hear with a disdainful smile
The short and simple annals of the Poor.

The boast of heraldry, the pomp of power,
And all that beauty, all that wealth e'er gave,
Awaits alike th' inevitable hour:-
The paths of glory lead but to the grave.

Nor you, ye Proud, impute to these the fault
If Memory o'er their tomb no trophies raise,
Where through the long-drawn aisle and fretted vault
The pealing anthem swells the note of praise.

Can storied urn or animated bust
Back to its mansion call the fleeting breath?
Can Honour's voice provoke the silent dust,
Or Flattery soothe the dull cold ear of Death?

Perhaps in this neglected spot is laid
Some heart once pregnant with celestial fire;
Hands, that the rod of empire might have sway'd,
Or waked to ecstasy the living lyre:

But Knowledge to their eyes her ample page,
Rich with the spoils of time, did ne'er unroll;
Chill Penury repress'd their noble rage,
And froze the genial current of the soul.

Full many a gem of purest ray serene
The dark unfathom'd caves of ocean bear:
Full many a flower is born to blush unseen,
And waste its sweetness on the desert air.

Some village-Hampden, that with dauntless breast
The little tyrant of his fields withstood,
Some mute inglorious Milton here may rest,
Some Cromwell, guiltless of his country's blood.

Th' applause of list'ning senates to command,
The threats of pain and ruin to despise,
To scatter plenty o'er a smiling land,
And read their history in a nation's eyes,

Their lot forbad: nor circumscribed alone
Their growing virtues, but their crimes confined;
Forbad to wade through slaughter to a throne,
And shut the gates of mercy on mankind,

The struggling pangs of conscious truth to hide,
To quench the blushes of ingenuous shame,
Or heap the shrine of Luxury and Pride
With incense kindled at the Muse's flame.

Far from the madding crowd's ignoble strife,
Their sober wishes never learn'd to stray;
Along the cool sequester'd vale of life
They kept the noiseless tenour of their way.

Yet e'en these bones from insult to protect
Some frail memorial still erected nigh,
With uncouth rhymes and shapeless sculpture deck'd,
Implores the passing tribute of a sigh.

Their name, their years, spelt by th' unletter'd Muse,
The place of fame and elegy supply:
And many a holy text around she strews,
That teach the rustic moralist to die.

For who, to dumb forgetfulness a prey,
This pleasing anxious being e'er resign'd,
Left the warm precincts of the cheerful day,
Nor cast one longing lingering look behind?

On some fond breast the parting soul relies,
Some pious drops the closing eye requires;
E'en from the tomb the voice of Nature cries,
E'en in our ashes live their wonted fires.

For thee, who, mindful of th' unhonour'd dead,
Dost in these lines their artless tale relate;
If chance, by lonely contemplation led,
Some kindred spirit shall inquire thy fate, --

Haply some hoary-headed swain may say,
"Oft have we seen him at the peep of dawn
Brushing with hasty steps the dews away,
To meet the sun upon the upland lawn;

"There at the foot of yonder nodding beech
That wreathes its old fantastic roots so high.
His listless length at noontide would he stretch,
And pore upon the brook that babbles by.

"Hard by yon wood, now smiling as in scorn,
Muttering his wayward fancies he would rove;
Now drooping, woeful wan, like one forlorn,
Or crazed with care, or cross'd in hopeless love.

"One morn I miss'd him on the custom'd hill,
Along the heath, and near his favourite tree;
Another came; nor yet beside the rill,
Nor up the lawn, nor at the wood was he;

"The next with dirges due in sad array
Slow through the church-way path we saw him borne,-
Approach and read (for thou canst read) the lay
Graved on the stone beneath yon aged thorn."

The Epitaph

Here rests his head upon the lap of Earth
A youth to Fortune and to Fame unknown.
Fair Science frowned not on his humble birth,
And Melacholy marked him for her own.

Large was his bounty, and his soul sincere,
Heaven did a recompense as largely send:
He gave to Misery all he had, a tear,
He gained from Heaven ('twas all he wish'd) a friend.

No farther seek his merits to disclose,
Or draw his frailties from their dread abode
(There they alike in trembling hope repose),
The bosom of his Father and his God.

--Thomas Gray (1716-71).