Poetry Explorer


Classic and Contemporary Poetry


PALINODE by THOMAS BAILEY ALDRICH

Poet Analysis

First Line: WHO IS LYDIA, PRAY, AND WHO / IS HYPATHIA? SOFTLY, DEAR
Last Line: I MEAN YOU, DEAR, YOU, JUST YOU.
Subject(s): FIDELITY; LOVE; FAITHFULNESS; CONSTANCY;

WHO is Lydia, pray, and who
Is Hypatia? Softly, dear,
Let me breathe it in your ear --
They are you, and only you.
And those other nameless two
Walking in Arcadian air --
She that was so very fair?
She that had the twilight hair? --
They were you, dear, only you.
If I speak of night or day,
Grace of fern or bloom of grape,
Hanging cloud or fountain spray,
Gem or star or glistening dew,
Or of mythologic shape,
Psyche, Pyrrha, Daphne, say --
I mean you, dear, you, just you.



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