Classic and Contemporary Poetry
TO A MISSAL OF THE THIRTEENTH CENTURY, by HENRY AUSTIN DOBSON Poet Analysis Poet's Biography First Line: Missal of the gothic age Last Line: Something mute -- but eloquent! Alternate Author Name(s): Dobson, Austin Subject(s): Books; Reading | ||||||||
MISSAL of the Gothic age, Missal with the blazoned page, Whence, O Missal, hither come, From what dim scriptorium? Whose the name that wrought thee thus, Ambrose or Theophilus, Bending, through the waning light, O'er thy vellum scraped and white; Weaving 'twixt thy rubric lines Sprays and leaves and quaint designs; Setting round thy border scrolled Buds of purple and of gold? Ah! -- a wondering brotherhood, Doubtless, by that artist stood, Raising o'er his careful ways Little choruses of praise; Glad when his deft hand would paint Strife of Sathanas and Saint, Or in secret coign entwist Jest of cloister humorist. Well the worker earned his wage, Bending o'er the blazoned page! Tired the hand and tired the wit Ere the final Explicit! Not as ours the books of old -- Things that steam can stamp and fold, Not as ours the books of yore -- Rows of type, and nothing more. Then a book was still a Book, Where a wistful man might look, Finding something through the whole, Beating, -- like a human soul. In that growth of day by day, When to labour was to pray, Surely something vital passed To the patient page at last; Something that one still perceives Vaguely present in the leaves; Something from the worker lent; Something mute -- but eloquent! | Discover our Poem Explanations and Poet Analyses!Other Poems of Interest...TWO SONNETS: 1 by DAVID LEHMAN THE ILLUSTRATION?ÇÖA FOOTNOTE by DENISE LEVERTOV FALLING ASLEEP OVER THE AENEID by ROBERT LOWELL POETRY MACHINES by CATE MARVIN LENDING LIBRARY by PHYLLIS MCGINLEY A FANCY FROM FONTENELLE by HENRY AUSTIN DOBSON |
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