Classic and Contemporary Poetry
THE QUARREL, by JAMES WHITCOMB RILEY Poet Analysis Poet's Biography First Line: They faced each other: topaz Last Line: Like drowning gems were turned on him. Alternate Author Name(s): Johnson Of Boone, Benj. F. Subject(s): Faces; Hate; Quarrels; Sea; Storms; Arguments; Disagreements; Ocean | ||||||||
THEY faced each other: Topaz-brown And lambent burned her eyes and shot Sharp flame at his of amethyst. -- "I hate you! Go, and be forgot As death forgets!" their glitter hissed (So seemed it) in their hatred. Ho! Dared any mortal front her so? -- Tempestuous eyebrows knitted down -- Tense nostril, mouth -- no muscle slack, -- And black -- the suffocating black -- The stifling blackness of her frown! Ah! but the lifted face of her! And the twitched lip and tilted head! Yet he did neither wince nor stir, -- Only -- his hands clenched; and, instead Of words, he answered with a stare That stammered not in aught it said, As might his voice if trusted there. And what -- what spake his steady gaze? -- Was there a look that harshly fell To scoff her? -- or a syllable Of anger? -- or the bitter phrase That myrrhs the honey of love's lips, Or curdles blood as poison-drips? What made their breasts to heave and swell As billows under bows of ships In broken seas on stormy days? We may not know -- nor they indeed -- What mercy found them in their need. A sudden sunlight smote the gloom; And round about them swept a breeze, With faint breaths as of clover-bloom; A bird was heard, through drone of bees, -- Then, far and clear and eerily, A child's voice from an orchard-tree -- Then laughter, sweet as the perfume Of lilacs, could the hearing see. And he -- O Love! he fed thy name On bruised kisses, while her dim Deep eyes, with all their inner flame, Like drowning gems were turned on him. | Discover our Poem Explanations and Poet Analyses!Other Poems of Interest...HALL OF OCEAN LIFE by JOHN HOLLANDER JULY FOURTH BY THE OCEAN by ROBINSON JEFFERS BOATS IN A FOG by ROBINSON JEFFERS CONTINENT'S END by ROBINSON JEFFERS THE FIGUREHEAD by LEONIE ADAMS A BOY'S MOTHER by JAMES WHITCOMB RILEY |
|