Classic and Contemporary Poetry
THE SEA OF DEATH: A FRAGMENT, by THOMAS HOOD Poet Analysis Poet's Biography First Line: Methought I saw life swiftly treading over endless space Last Line: Of a dark dial in a sunless place. Subject(s): Death; Sea; Dead, The; Ocean | ||||||||
Methought I saw life swiftly treading over endless space; And, at her foot-print, but a bygone pace, The ocean-past, which, with increasing wave, Swallow'd her steps like a pursuing grave. Sad were my thoughts that anchor'd silently On the dead waters of that passsionless sea, Unstirr'd by any touch of living breath: Silence hung over it, and drowsy Death, Like a gorged sea-bird, slept with folded wings On crowded carcassses -- sad passive things That wore the thin grey surface, like a veil Over the calmness of their features pale. And there were spring-faced cherubs that did sleep Like water-lilies on that motionless deep, How beautiful! with bright unruffled hair On sleek unfretted brows, and eyes that were Buried in marble tombs, a pale eclipse! And smile-bedimpled cheeks, and pleasant lips, Meekly apart, as if the soul intense Spake out in dreams of its own innocence: And so they lay in loveliness, and kept The birth-night of their peace, that Life e'en wept With very envy of their happy fronts; For there were neighbour brows scarr'd by the brunts Of strife and sorrowing -- where Care had set His crooked autograph, and marr'd the jet Of glossy locks, with hollow eyes forlorn, And lips that curl'd in bitterness and scorn -- Wretched, -- as they had breathed of this world's pain, And so bequeath'd it to the world again Through the beholder's heart in heavy sighs. So lay they garmented in torpid light, Under the pall of a transparent night, Like solemn apparitions lull'd sublime To everlasting rest, -- and with them Time Slept, as he sleeps upon the silent face Of a dark dial in a sunless place. | Discover our Poem Explanations and Poet Analyses!Other Poems of Interest...HALL OF OCEAN LIFE by JOHN HOLLANDER JULY FOURTH BY THE OCEAN by ROBINSON JEFFERS BOATS IN A FOG by ROBINSON JEFFERS CONTINENT'S END by ROBINSON JEFFERS THE FIGUREHEAD by LEONIE ADAMS |
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