Classic and Contemporary Poetry
ON THE CHURCH OF THE MADELEINE AT PARIS, by RICHARD MONCKTON MILNES Poet Analysis Poet's Biography First Line: The attic temple whose majestic room Last Line: As this lorn child of infamy and woe. Alternate Author Name(s): Houghton, 1st Baron; Houghton, Lord Subject(s): Madeleine, Church Of The. Paris | ||||||||
I. THE Attic temple whose majestic room Contained the presence of Olympian Jove, With smooth Hymettus round it and above, Softening the splendour by a sober bloom, Is yielding fast to Time's irreverent doom; While on the then barbarian banks of Seine That nobler type is realised again In perfect form, and dedicate -- to whom? To a poor Syrian girl, of lowliest name, A hapless creature, pitiful and frail As ever wore her life in sin and shame, -- Of whom all history has this single tale, -- "She loved the Christ, she wept beside his grave, And He, for the Love's sake, all else forgave." II. If one, with prescient soul to understand The working of this world beyond the day Of his small life, had taken by the hand That wanton daughter of old Magdala; And told her that the time was ripe to come When she, thus base among the base, should be More served than all the Gods of Greece and Rome, More honoured in her holy memory, -- How would not men have mocked and she have scorned The fond Diviner? -- Plausible excuse Had been for them, all moulded to one use Of feeling and of thought, but We are warned By such ensamples to distrust the sense Of Custom proud and bold Experience. III. Thanks to that element of heavenly things, That did come down to earth, and there confound Most sacred thoughts with names of usual sound, And homeliest life with all a Poet sings. The proud Ideas that had ruled and bound Our moral nature were no longer kings, Old Power grew faint and shed his eagle-wings, And grey Philosophy was half uncrowned. Love, Pleasure's child, betrothed himself to Pain; -- Weakness, and Poverty, and Self-disdain, And tranquil sufferance of repeated wrongs, Became adorable; -- Fame gave her tongues, And Faith her hearts to objects all as low As this lorn child of infamy and woe. | Discover our Poem Explanations and Poet Analyses!Other Poems of Interest...FROM THE IONIAN ISLANDS by RICHARD MONCKTON MILNES GOOD NIGHT AND GOOD MORNING by RICHARD MONCKTON MILNES LONDON CHURCHES by RICHARD MONCKTON MILNES SHADOWS: 2 by RICHARD MONCKTON MILNES SWITZERLAND AND ITALY by RICHARD MONCKTON MILNES THE BROOKSIDE by RICHARD MONCKTON MILNES THE GREEK AT CONSTANTINOPLE by RICHARD MONCKTON MILNES A CHILD'S SONG by RICHARD MONCKTON MILNES A CHRISTMAS STORY by RICHARD MONCKTON MILNES A DREAM IN A GONDOLA by RICHARD MONCKTON MILNES |
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