Poetry Explorer- Classic Contemporary Poetry, VISION, by WILLIAM DEAN HOWELLS



Poetry Explorer

Classic and Contemporary Poetry

VISION, by                     Poet's Biography
First Line: Within a poor man's squalid home I stood
Last Line: The poor man's landlord leading down to dine.
Alternate Author Name(s): Howells, W. D.


WITHIN a poor man's squalid home I stood:
The one bare chamber, where his work-worn wife
Above the stove and wash-tub passed her life,
Next the sty where they slept with all their brood.
But I saw not that sunless, breathless lair,
The chamber's sagging roof and reeking floor;
The smeared walls, broken sash, and battered door;
The foulness and forlornness everywhere.
I saw a great house with the portals wide
Upon a banquet room, and, from without,
The guests descending in a brilliant line
By the stair's statued niches, and beside
The loveliest of the gemmed and silken rout
The poor man's landlord leading down to dine.





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