Classic and Contemporary Poetry
A GENTLEMAN'S EPITAPH ON HIMSELF AND A LADY, WHO WERE BURIED TOGETHER, by THOMAS HARDY Poet Analysis Poet's Biography First Line: I dwelt in the shade of a city Last Line: Companion to me! Subject(s): Cemeteries; Graveyards | ||||||||
I DWELT in the shade of a city, She far by the sea, With folk perhaps good, gracious, witty; But never with me. Her form on the ballroom's smooth flooring I never once met, To guide her with accents adoring Through Weippert's "First Set." I spent my life's seasons with pale ones In Vanity Fair, And she enjoyed hers among hale ones In salt-smelling air. Maybe she had eyes of deep colour, Maybe they were blue, Maybe as she aged they got duller; That never I knew. She may have had lips like the coral, But I never kissed them, Saw pouting, nor curling in quarrel, Nor sought for, nor missed them. Not a word passed of love all our lifetime, Between us, nor thrill; We'd never a husband-and-wife time, For good or for ill. Yet as one dust, through bleak days and vernal Lie I and lies she, This never-known lady, eternal Companion to me! | Discover our Poem Explanations and Poet Analyses!Other Poems of Interest...POEM FOR MY TWENTIETH BIRTHDAY by KENNETH KOCH THERE IS ALWAYS A LITTLE WIND by TED KOOSER JEWISH GRAVEYARDS, ITALY by PHILIP LEVINE SAILING HOME FROM RAPALLO by ROBERT LOWELL THE HILL ABOVE THE MINE by MALCOLM COWLEY AND THERE WAS A GREAT CALM' by THOMAS HARDY |
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