Classic and Contemporary Poetry
THE CLOUD CONFINES, by DANTE GABRIEL ROSSETTI Poet Analysis Poet's Biography First Line: The day is dark and the night Last Line: "that shall we know one day." Alternate Author Name(s): Rossetti, Gabriel Charles Dante Subject(s): Irony | ||||||||
THE day is dark and the night To him that would search their heart; No lips of cloud that will part Nor morning song in the light: Only, gazing alone, To him wild shadows are shown, Deep under deep unknown And height above unknown height. Still we say as we go,-- "Strange to think by the way, Whatever there is to know, That shall we know one day." The Past is over and fled; Named new, we name it the old; Thereof some tale hath been told, But no word comes from the dead; Whether at all they be, Or whether as bond or free, Or whether they too were we, Or by what spell they have sped. Still we say as we go,-- "Strange to think by the way, Whatever there is to know, That shall we know one day." What of the heart of hate That beats in thy breast, O Time?-- Red strife from the furthest prime, And anguish of fierce debate; War that shatters her slain, And peace that grinds them as grain, And eyes fixed ever in vain On the pitiless eyes of Fate. Still we say as we go,-- "Strange to think by the way, Whatever there is to know, That shall we know one day." What of the heart of love That bleeds in thy breast, O Man?-- Thy kisses snatched 'neath the ban Of fangs that mock them above; Thy bells prolonged unto knells, Thy hope that a breath dispels, Thy bitter forlorn farewells And the empty echoes thereof? Still we say as we go,-- "Strange to think by the way, Whatever there is to know, That shall we know one day." The sky leans dumb on the sea, Aweary with all its wings; And oh! the song the sea sings Is dark everlastingly. Our past is clean forgot, Our present is and is not, Our future's a sealed seedplot, And what betwixt them are we?-- We who say as we go,-- "Strange to think by the way, Whatever there is to know, That shall we know one day." | Discover our Poem Explanations and Poet Analyses!Other Poems of Interest...A DREAM OF WILLIAM CARLOS WILLIAMS by ROBERT BLY FROST AND HIS ENEMIES by ROBERT BLY IRONY IS NOT ENOUGH: ESSAY ON MY LIFE AS CATHERINE DENEUVE (2D DRAFT) by ANNE CARSON A PERIOD PORTRAIT OF SYMPATHY by EDWARD DORN LOOKING UP FROM TWO RENAISSANCE PAINTINGS TO MASSACRE TIANANMEN SQUARE by NORMAN DUBIE SONNET ENDING WITH A FILM SUBTITLE by MARILYN HACKER A MINOR CHARACTER IN AN OBSCURE LEGEND by PETER JOHNSON THE HERETIC: 2. IRONY by LOUIS UNTERMEYER THE RUINED MAID by THOMAS HARDY FOUND' (FOR A PICTURE) by DANTE GABRIEL ROSSETTI |
|