Poetry Explorer

Classic and Contemporary Poetry

THE WINGLESS VICTORY by WILLIAM HERVEY ALLEN JR.

Poet Analysis

First Line: NIKE OF SAMOTHRACE
Last Line: INTO STONE.
Subject(s): GODDESSES & GODS; HOPE; MYTHOLOGY; VICTORY; WAR; OPTIMISM;
Niké of Samothrace,
Thy godlike wings
Cleft windy space
Above the ships of kings.
Fain of thy lips,
By hope made glorious,
Time kissed thy grand, Greek face
Away from us.

Our Niké has no wings;
She has not known
Clean heights, and from her lips
Comes starvèd moan.
Mints lie that coin her grace,
And Time will hate her face,
For it has turned the world's hope
Into stone.



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