Classic and Contemporary Poetry
THE TOMB OF LAIUS, by RICHARD MONCKTON MILNES Poet Analysis Poet's Biography First Line: Where delphi's consecrated pass Last Line: To good the dross of evil deeds. Alternate Author Name(s): Houghton, 1st Baron; Houghton, Lord Subject(s): Delphi; Graves; Castri; Tombs; Tombstones | ||||||||
WHERE Delphi's consecrated pass Boeotia's misty region faces, Rises a tomb-like stony mass Amid the bosky mountain-bases; It seems no work of human care, But many rocks split off from one: Laius, the Theban king, lies there, -- His murderer CEdipus, his son. No pilgrim to the Pythian shrine But marked the spot with decent awe, In presence of a power divine, O'erruling human will and law: And to some thoughtful hearts that scene, -- Those paths, that mound, those browsing herds, Were more than e'er that tale had been, Arrayed in Sophoclean words. So is it yet, -- no time or space That ancient anguish can assuage, For sorrow is of every race, And suffering due from every age; That awful legend falls to us, With all the weight that Greece could feel, And every man is CEdipus, Whose wounds no mortal skill can heal. O, call it Providence or fate, The Sphinx propounds the riddle still, That man must bear and expiate Loads of involuntary ill: So shall endurance ever hold The foremost rank mid human needs, Not without faith that God can mould To good the dross of evil deeds. | Discover our Poem Explanations and Poet Analyses!Other Poems of Interest...THE SURVIVOR AMONG GRAVES by RANDALL JARRELL SUBJECTED EARTH by ROBINSON JEFFERS THE GRAVE OF MRS. HEMANS by CECIL FRANCES ALEXANDER THOSE GRAVES IN ROME by LARRY LEVIS NOT TO BE DWELLED ON by HEATHER MCHUGH ONE LAST DRAW OF THE PIPE by PAUL MULDOON ETRUSCAN TOMB by JOHN FREDERICK NIMS ENDING WITH A LINE FROM LEAR by MARVIN BELL COLUMBUS AND THE MAYFLOWER by RICHARD MONCKTON MILNES |
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