Poetry Explorer- Classic Contemporary Poetry, WHISPERS OF IMMORTALITY, by THOMAS STEARNS ELIOT


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WHISPERS OF IMMORTALITY, by             Poem Explanation     Poet Analysis     Poet's Biography
First Line: Webster was much possessed by death
Last Line: To keep our metaphysics warm.
Alternate Author Name(s): Eliot, T. S.
Subject(s): Immortality


Webster was much possessed by death
And saw the skull beneath the skin;
And breastless creatures under ground
Leaned backward with a lipless grin.

Daffodil bulbs instead of balls
Stared from the sockets of the eyes!
He knew that thought clings round dead limbs
Tightening its lusts and luxuries.

Donne, I suppose, was such another
Who found no substitute for sense,
To seize and clutch and penetrate;
Expert beyond experience,

He knew the anguish of the marrow
The ague of the skeleton;
No contact possible to flesh
Allayed the fever of the bone.

* * * * *

Grishkin is nice: her Russian eye
Is underlined for emphasis;
Uncorseted, her friendly lust
Gives promise of pneumatic bliss.

The couched Brazilian jaguar
Compels the scampering marmoset
With subtle effluence of cat;
Grishkin has a maisonette;

The sleek Brazilian jaguar
Does not in its arboreal gloom
Distil so rank a feline smell
As Grishkin in a drawing-room.

And even the Abstract Entities
Circumambulate her charm;
But our lot crawls between dry ribs
To keep our metaphysics warm.





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