Classic and Contemporary Poetry
AN INQUIRY; A PHANTASY, by THOMAS HARDY Poet Analysis Poet's Biography First Line: I said to it: 'we grasp not what you meant Last Line: "in crowning death as king!" Subject(s): Death; Dead, The | ||||||||
I SAID to It: "We grasp not what you meant, (Dwelling down here, so narrowly pinched and pent) By crowning Death the King of the Firmament: -- The query I admit to be One of unwonted size, But it is put you sorrowingly, And not in idle-wise." "Sooth, since you ask me gravely," It replied, "Though too incisive questions I have decried, This shows some thought, and may be justified. I'll gauge its value as I go Across the Universe, And bear me back in a moment or so And say, for better or worse." Many years later, when It came again, "That matter an instant back which brought you pain," It said, "and you besought me to explain: Well, my forethoughtless modes to you May seem a shameless thing, But -- I'd no meaning, that I knew, In crowning Death as King!" | Discover our Poem Explanations and Poet Analyses!Other Poems of Interest...A FRIEND KILLED IN THE WAR by ANTHONY HECHT FOR JAMES MERRILL: AN ADIEU by ANTHONY HECHT TARANTULA: OR THE DANCE OF DEATH by ANTHONY HECHT CHAMPS D?ÇÖHONNEUR by ERNEST HEMINGWAY NOTE TO REALITY by TONY HOAGLAND AND THERE WAS A GREAT CALM' by THOMAS HARDY |
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