Classic and Contemporary Poetry
THE SHADOW ON THE STONE, by THOMAS HARDY Poet Analysis Poet's Biography First Line: I went by the druid stone Last Line: My head unturned lest my dream should fade. Subject(s): Shadows | ||||||||
I WENT by the Druid stone That broods in the garden white and lone, And I stopped and looked at the shifting shadows That at some moments fall thereon From the tree hard by with a rhythmic swing, And they shaped in my imagining To the shade that a well-known head and shoulders Threw there when she was gardening. I thought her behind my back, Yea, her I long had learned to lack, And I said: 'I am sure you are standing behind me, Though how do you get into this old track?' And there was no sound but the fall of a leaf As a sad response; and to keep down grief I would not turn my head to discover That there was nothing in my belief. Yet I wanted to look and see That nobody stood at the back of me; But I thought once more: 'Nay, I'll not unvision A shape which, somehow, there may be.' So I went on softly from the glade, And left her behind me throwing her shade, As she were indeed an apparition - My head unturned lest my dream should fade. | Discover our Poem Explanations and Poet Analyses!Other Poems of Interest...THE ANIMAL INSIDE THE ANIMAL by JOSEPHINE JACOBSEN DRIVING ALONGSIDE THE HOUSANTONIC RIVER ALONE ON A RAINY APRIL NIGHT by WILLIAM MATTHEWS NOCTURNE IN A MINOR KEY by CONRAD AIKEN SONATA IN PATHOS by CONRAD AIKEN I LOOKED FOR LIFE AND DID A SHADOW SEE by JAMES GALVIN AND THERE WAS A GREAT CALM' by THOMAS HARDY |
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