Classic and Contemporary Poetry
LINES INSCRIBED UPON A CUP FORMED FROM A SKULL, by GEORGE GORDON BYRON Poet Analysis Poet's Biography First Line: Start not - nor deem my spirit fled Last Line: This chance is theirs, to be of use. Alternate Author Name(s): Byron, Lord; Byron, 6th Baron Subject(s): Cups; Skulls | ||||||||
START not -- nor deem my spirit fled: In me behold the only skull, From which, unlike a living head, Whatever flows is never dull. I lived, I loved, I quaff'd, like thee; I died: let earth my bones resign: Fill up -- thou canst not injure me; The worm hath fouler lips than thine. Better to hold the sparkling grape, Than nurse the earth-worm's slimy brood; And circle in the goblet's shape The drink of Gods, than reptile's food. Where once my wit, perchance, hath shone, In aid of others' let me shine; And when, alas! our brains are gone, What nobler substitute than wine? Quaff while thou canst: another race, When thou and thine like me are sped, May rescue thee from earth's embrace, And rhyme and revel with the dead. Why not? since through life's little day Our heads such sad effects produce; Redeem'd from worms and wasting clay, This chance is theirs, to be of use. | Discover our Poem Explanations and Poet Analyses!Other Poems of Interest...MORNING PAPER, SOCIETY PAGE by NAOMI SHIHAB NYE ESSAY: 13 PRESSURE POINTS INSIDE THE SKULL by ELENI SIKELIANOS YARDBIRD'S SKULL by OWEN DODSON PERFECT; ON THE WESTERN SEABOARD OF SOUTH UIST by CHRISTOPHER MURRAY GRIEVE TO THE PLIOCENE SKULL by FRANCIS BRET HARTE THE U. S. SAILOR WITH THE JAPANESE SKULL by WINFIELD TOWNLEY SCOTT THE LEAPING POLL by WILLIAM HERVEY ALLEN JR. ALL IS VANITY, SAITH THE PREACHER' by GEORGE GORDON BYRON |
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