Classic and Contemporary Poetry
AND SO, I THINK DIOGENES, by AMY LOWELL Poet Analysis Poet's Biography First Line: I told them to look at an apple-tree Last Line: "they do but wander home,"" I said." Subject(s): Diogenes | ||||||||
I told them to look at an apple-tree In a gust of blossom. They could not see. I told them to notice people's faces In quiet, unexpected places; To catch the flying speech of eyes, And stumble on some young surprise Of joy as sharp as any dawn Or afternoon across a lawn. I told them to look at a thin, white steeple Soaring above a throng of people, And listen to the people's cheers When someone spoke. They had no ears. Instead, they led me to a hill Above a bay. The noon was still. The water in the bay was cold; The hanging air was slack with mould. Grave-stones were scattered through the grass So close there was no room to pass For any save the narrow dead Who need no paths on which to tread. Each scraggy grave-stone bore a name And some brief episode of fame, Some pious irony of grief, Draped in the tatters of belief. Misshapen flowers stood awry, Too weak to face the staring sky. The wind upon that barren hill Was strangely sleek and strangely still. A dreary shadow crept and crept Across the gaunt graves where they slept Who died so many years ago And lay here softly, row on row, With nowhere else at all to go. * * * * * They led me up and down the hill. They said no word. The dusk was chill. They left me at the edge of town; They gazed at me, and up and down. Their eyes were ghastly white and cool Like fishes in a frozen pool. They left me where I stood, and bent With feverish ague, turned and went Back to the hill. "But they are dead, They do but wander home," I said. | Discover our Poem Explanations and Poet Analyses!Other Poems of Interest...IN PRAISE OF WINE by ANONYMOUS THE TOMB OF DIOGENES by ANONYMOUS TWENTY-FOUR HOKKU ON A MODERN THEME by AMY LOWELL |
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