Classic and Contemporary Poetry
THE BOOK-STALL, by CLINTON SCOLLARD Poet's Biography First Line: It stands in a winding street Last Line: In the book-stall old and gray. Variant Title(s): The Bookstall Subject(s): Books; Reading | ||||||||
It stands in a winding street, A quiet and restful nook, Apart from the endless beat Of the noisy heart of Trade; There's never a spot more cool Of a hot midsummer day By the brink of a forest pool, Or the bank of a crystal brook In the maples' breezy shade, Than the book-stall old and gray. Here are precious gems of thought That were quarried long ago, Some in vellum bound, and wrought With letters and lines of gold; Here are curious rows of "calf," And perchance as Elzevir; Here are countless "mos" of chaff, And a parchment folio, Like leaves that are cracked with cold, All puckered and brown and sear. In every age and clime Live the monarchs of the brain: And the lords of prose and rhyme, Years after the long last sleep Has come to the kings of earth And their names have passed away, Rule on through death and birth; And the thrones of their domain Are found where the shades are deep In the book-stall old and gray. | Discover our Poem Explanations and Poet Analyses!Other Poems of Interest...TWO SONNETS: 1 by DAVID LEHMAN THE ILLUSTRATION?ÇÖA FOOTNOTE by DENISE LEVERTOV FALLING ASLEEP OVER THE AENEID by ROBERT LOWELL POETRY MACHINES by CATE MARVIN LENDING LIBRARY by PHYLLIS MCGINLEY |
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