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Classic and Contemporary Poetry


IN A RUIN, AFTER A THUNDER-STORM by LOUISE IMOGEN GUINEY

Poet Analysis

First Line: KEEP OF THE NORMAN, OLD TO FLOOD AND CLOUD
Last Line: SEE DOWNFALL OF THE STRONGHOLD THAT HE MADE.
Subject(s): RUINS;

KEEP of the Norman, old to flood and cloud!
Thou dost reproach me with thy sunset look,
That in our common menace, I forsook
Hope, the last fear, and stood impartial proud:
Almost, almost, while ether spake aloud,
Death from the smoking stones my spirit shook
Into thy hollow as leaves into a brook,
No more than they by heaven's assassins cowed.

But now thy thousand-scarred steep is flecked
With the calm kisses of the light delayed,
Breathe on me better valor: to subject
My soul to greed of life, and grow afraid
Lest, ere her fight's full term, the Architect
See downfall of the stronghold that He made.




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