WHEN panels creak mysteriously swayed; When from the deep wide gaping hearth are made Unearthly sounds; when the logs strangely seem To groan and hiss, and round their edges gleam All pale and wan; when moving in their frames The portraits seem of ancient knights and dames-- Then do you like by night, with no one near, To read old tales of marvel and of fear? This I enjoy--if in some grim old tower I find a ponderous folio to devour, Dragged from a dusty Gothic cabinet, Long years forgotten, on whose margins set Flowers, figures, objects of each gorgeous hue, As in a painted window you may view. I cannot leave it--lyrics, ballads, lays, Legend of saint who plague and famine stays, Cures leprosy, and devils puts to flight By sign of Cross; or tale of valiant knight: All I devour, the clock strikes twelve in vain, And the owl shrieks as through the narrow pane The lights before me daze his startled eyes; My table like a tomb in shape and size; Meanwhile my candle gutters o'er and makes Long winding sheets; then thro' the lattice breaks The rosy tint of dawn, and the glad sun Begins, through heaven, his glorious course to run. | Discover our Poem Explanations and Poet Analyses!Other Poems of Interest...ODE WRITTEN IN [THE BEGINNING OF THE YEAR] 1746 by WILLIAM COLLINS (1721-1759) THE FAIR SINGER by ANDREW MARVELL THE NATURAL FIRE by CLIFFORD ALLEN VERSES, OCCASIONED BY AN AFFECTING INSTANCE OF SUDDEN DEATH by BERNARD BARTON DIDO TO AENEAS by JOACHIM DU BELLAY TWENTY DAYS by WILFRID SCAWEN BLUNT CAPTAIN TOM AND CAPTAIN HUGH by THOMAS EDWARD BROWN |