Classic and Contemporary Poetry
THE FINDING OF THE LYRE, by JAMES RUSSELL LOWELL Poet Analysis Poet's Biography First Line: There lay upon the ocean's shore Last Line: In thee what songs should waken! Subject(s): Musical Instruments | ||||||||
THERE lay upon the ocean's shore What once a tortoise served to cover. A year and more, with rush and roar, The surf had rolled it over, Had played with it, and flung it by, As wind and weather might decide it, Then tossed it high where sand-drifts dry Cheap burial might provide it. It rested there to bleach or tan, The rains had soaked, the suns had burned it; With many a ban the fisherman Had stumbled o'er and spurned it; And there the fisher-girl would stay, Conjecturing with her brother How in their play the poor estray Might serve some use or other. So there it lay, through wet and dry, As empty as the last new sonnet, Till by and by came Mercury, And, having mused upon it, "Why, here," cried he, "the thing of things In shape, material, and dimension! Give it but strings, and, lo, it sings, A wonderful invention!" So said, so done; the chords he strained, And, as his fingers o'er them hovered, The shell disdained a soul had gained, The lyre had been discovered. O empty world that round us lies, Dead shell, of soul and thought forsaken, Brought we but eyes like Mercury's, In thee what songs should waken! | Discover our Poem Explanations and Poet Analyses!Other Poems of Interest...DRUMS AND BRASS by DONALD (GRADY) DAVIDSON ONE AND ONE by CECIL DAY LEWIS VISITING SUNDAY: CONVENT NOVITIATE by MADELINE DEFREES SEVERAL MEASURES FOR THE LITTLE LOST by NORMAN DUBIE NEAR MISS HAIKU by ANSELM HOLLO THE PLAYER PIANO by RANDALL JARRELL A BANJO SONG by JAMES WELDON JOHNSON AFTER THE BURIAL by JAMES RUSSELL LOWELL |
|