Classic and Contemporary Poetry
THE TREASURE, by ALICE MEYNELL Poet Analysis Poet's Biography First Line: Three times have I beheld Last Line: How sad, how brief! O how divine, divine! Alternate Author Name(s): Meynell, Wilfrid, Mrs.; Thompson, Alice Christina Subject(s): Children; Childhood | ||||||||
THREE times have I beheld Fear leap in a babe's face, and take his breath, Fear, like the fear of eld That knows the price of life, the name of death. What is it justifies This thing, this dread, this fright that has no tongue, The terror in those eyes When only eyes can speak -- they are so young? Not yet those eyes had wept. What does fear cherish that it locks so well? What fortress is thus kept? Of what is ignorant terror sentinel? And pain in the poor child, Monstrously disproportionate, and dumb In the poor beast, and wild In the old decorous man, caught, overcome? Of what the outposts these? Of what the fighting guardians? What demands That sense of menaces, And then such flying feet, imploring hands? Life: There's nought else to seek; Life only, little prized; but by design Of nature prized. How weak, How sad, how brief! O how divine, divine! | Discover our Poem Explanations and Poet Analyses!Other Poems of Interest...THE THREE CHILDREN by JOSEPHINE JACOBSEN CHILDREN SELECTING BOOKS IN A LIBRARY by RANDALL JARRELL COME TO THE STONE ... by RANDALL JARRELL THE LOST WORLD by RANDALL JARRELL A SICK CHILD by RANDALL JARRELL CONTINENT'S END by ROBINSON JEFFERS ON THE DEATH OF FRIENDS IN CHILDHOOD by DONALD JUSTICE THE POET AT SEVEN by DONALD JUSTICE I AM THE WAY' by ALICE MEYNELL |
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