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Classic and Contemporary Poetry


DUNS SCOTUS'S OXFORD by GERARD MANLEY HOPKINS

Poet Analysis

First Line: TOWERY CITY AND BRANCHY BETWEEN TOWERS
Last Line: WHO FIRED FRANCE FOR MARY WITHOUT SPOT.
Subject(s): ARCHITECTURE & ARCHITECTS; ENGLAND; OXFORD, ENGLAND; POETRY & POETS; ENGLISH;

TOWERY city and branchy between towers;
Cuckoo-echoing, bell-swarmed, lark-charmed, rook-racked,
river-rounded;
The dapple-eared lily below thee; that country and town did
Once encounter in, here coped and poised powers;

Thou hast a base and brickish skirt there, sours
That neighbour-nature thy grey beauty is grounded
Best in; graceless growth, thou hast confounded
Rural rural keeping -- folk, flocks, and flowers.

Yet ah! this air I gather and I release
He lived on; these weeds and waters, these walls are what
He haunted who of all men most sways my spirits to peace;

Of realty the rarest-veined unraveller; a not
Rivalled insight, be rival Italy or Greece;
Who fired France for Mary without spot.





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