|
|
|
Classic and Contemporary Poetry
THE TOMB OF SOPHOCLES, by EDMUND WILLIAM GOSSE Poet's Biography
First Line: A bounding satyr, golden in the beard
Last Line: Nor sees the sun wheel round in the white dome.
Subject(s): Graves; Sophocles (496-406 B.c.); Tombs; Tombstones
First Line: A bounding satyr, golden in the beard
Last Line: Nor sees the sun wheel round in the white dome.
Subject(s): Graves; Sophocles (496-406 B.c.); Tombs; Tombstones
A BOUNDING satyr, golden in the beard,
That leaps with goat-feet high into the air,
And crushes from the thyme an odour rare,
Keeps watch around the marble tomb revered
Of Sophocles, the poet loved and feared,
Whose sovereign voice once called out of her lair
The Dorian muse severe, with braided hair,
Who loved the thyrsus and wild dances weird.
Here all day long the pious bees can pour
Libations of their honey; round this tomb
The Dionysiac ivy loves to roam:
The satyr laughs; but He awakes no more,
Wrapped up in silence at the grave's cold core,
Nor sees the sun wheel round in the white dome.
Discover our Poem Explanations and Poet Analyses!
Other Poems of Interest...
THE SURVIVOR AMONG GRAVES by RANDALL JARRELL
SUBJECTED EARTH by ROBINSON JEFFERS
THE GRAVE OF MRS. HEMANS by CECIL FRANCES ALEXANDER
THOSE GRAVES IN ROME by LARRY LEVIS
NOT TO BE DWELLED ON by HEATHER MCHUGH
ONE LAST DRAW OF THE PIPE by PAUL MULDOON
ETRUSCAN TOMB by JOHN FREDERICK NIMS
ENDING WITH A LINE FROM LEAR by MARVIN BELL
FEBRUARY IN ROME by EDMUND WILLIAM GOSSE