Classic and Contemporary Poetry
BROKEN MUSIC, by THOMAS BAILEY ALDRICH Poem Explanation Poet Analysis Poet's Biography First Line: I know not in what fashion she was made Last Line: Lies coiled in dark defeat. Subject(s): Levy, Amy (1861-1889); Poetry & Poets; Thought; Thinking | ||||||||
I know not in what fashion she was made, Nor what her voice was, when she used to speak, Nor if the silken lashes threw a shade On wan or rosy cheek. I picture her with sorrowful vague eyes Illumed with such strange gleams of inner light As linger in the drift of London skies Ere twilight turns to night. I know not; I conjecture. 'T was a girl That with her own most gentle desperate hand From out God's mystic setting plucked life's pearl-- 'T is hard to understand. So precious life is! Even to the old The hours are as a miser's coins, and she-- Within her hands lay youth's untainted gold And all felicity. The winged impetuous spirit, the white flame That was her soul once, whither has it flown? Above her brow gray lichens blot her name Upon the carven stone. This is her Book of Verses -- wren-like notes, Shy franknesses, blind gropings, haunting fears; At times across the chords abruptly floats A mist of passionate tears. A fragile lyre too tensely keyed and strung, A broken music, weirdly incomplete: Here a proud mind, self-baffled and self-stung, Lies coiled in dark defeat. | Discover our Poem Explanations and Poet Analyses!Other Poems of Interest...MILLE ET UN SENTIMENTS (PREMIERS CENTS) by DENISE DUHAMEL SUNDAY AFTERNOON by CLARENCE MAJOR I BROOD ABOUT SOME CONCEPTS, FOR EXAMPLE by ALICIA SUSKIN OSTRIKER EASY LESSONS IN GEOPHAGY by KENNETH REXROTH GENTLEMEN, I ADDRESS YOU PUBLICLY by KENNETH REXROTH ON FLOWER WREATH HILL: 1 by KENNETH REXROTH AFTER THE RAIN by THOMAS BAILEY ALDRICH AN ALPINE PICTURE by THOMAS BAILEY ALDRICH AN ODE ON THE UNVEILING OF THE SHAW MEMORIA BOSTON COMMON, MAY 31, 1897 by THOMAS BAILEY ALDRICH |
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