Poetry Explorer- Classic Contemporary Poetry, THE REGENT'S EXAMINATION, by JESSIE WALLACE HUGHAN


Poetry Explorer

Classic and Contemporary Poetry

THE REGENT'S EXAMINATION, by                    
First Line: Muffled sounds of the city climbing to me at the window
Last Line: Neuter and safe shall it be? Or a flame to burst us asunder?
Subject(s): Examinations; Immigrants; Racism; United States - Race Relations; Emigrant; Emigration; Immigration; Racial Prejudice; Bigotry


Muffled sounds of the city climbing to me at the window,
Here in the summer noon-tide students busily writing,
Children of quaint-clad immigrants, fresh from the hut and the Ghetto,
Writing of pious Æneas and funeral rites of Anchises.
Old-World credo and custom, alien accents and features,
Plunged in the free-school hopper, grist for the Anglo-Saxons —
Old-World sweetness and light, and fiery struggle of heroes,
Flashed on the blinking peasants, dull with the grime of their bondage!
Race that are infant in knowledge, ancient in grief and traditions —
Lore that is tranquil with age and starry with gleams of the future —
What is the thing that will come from the might of the elements blending?
Neuter and safe shall it be? Or a flame to burst us asunder?





Discover our Poem Explanations and Poet Analyses!


Other Poems of Interest...
Home: PoetryExplorer.net