Classic and Contemporary Poetry
DECAY OF PIETY, by WILLIAM WORDSWORTH Poet Analysis Poet's Biography First Line: Oft have I seen, ere time had ploughed my cheek Last Line: Their pensive light from a departed sun! Subject(s): Piety | ||||||||
OFT have I seen, ere Time had ploughed my cheek, Matrons and Sires -- who, punctual to the call Of their loved Church, on fast or festival Through the long year the house of Prayer would seek: By Christmas snows, by visitation bleak Of Easter winds, unscared, from hut or hall They came to lowly bench or sculptured stall, But with one fervour of devotion meek. I see the places where they once were known, And ask, surrounded even by kneeling crowds, Is ancient Piety for ever flown? Alas! even then they seemed like fleecy clouds That, struggling through the western sky, have won Their pensive light from a departed sun! | Discover our Poem Explanations and Poet Analyses!Other Poems of Interest...HYMN: FIRST SUNDAY AFTER EPIPHANY: 2 by REGINALD HEBER ON THE LOSS OF A PIOUS FRIEND by JOHN GARDINER CALKINS BRAINARD BLUEBEARD'S LAST WIFE: COMES PIETY by OLIVER BROOK HERFORD AN EPIGRAM TO KING CHARLES by BEN JONSON HELLENICS: CATILLUS AND SALIA by WALTER SAVAGE LANDOR A THANKSGIVING FOR F.D. MAURICE by GEORGE MACDONALD VIOLIN SONGS: TO MY SISTER, ON HER TWENTY-FIRST BIRTHDAY by GEORGE MACDONALD A JEWISH FAMILY; IN A SMALL VALLEY OPPOSITE ST. GOAR by WILLIAM WORDSWORTH |
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