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Classic and Contemporary Poetry


IN THE READING-ROOM OF THE BRITISH MUSEUM by LOUISE IMOGEN GUINEY

Poet Analysis

First Line: PRAISED BE THE MOON OF BOOKS! THAT DOTH ABOVE
Last Line: WHILE IN THIS LIBERAL HOUSE THY FACE IS BRIGHT.
Subject(s): BRITISH MUSEUM, LONDON; LIBRARIANS & LIBRARIES; MUSEUMS; LIBRARY; LIBRARIANS; ART GALLERYS;

PRAISED be the moon of books! that doth above
A world of men, the fallen Past behold,
And fill the spaces else so void and cold
To make a very heaven again thereof;
As when the sun is set behind a grove,
And faintly unto nether ether rolled,
All night his whiter image and his mould
Grows beautiful with looking on her love.

Thou therefore, moon of so divine a ray,
Lend to our steps both fortitude and light!
Feebly along a venerable way
They climb the infinite, or perish quite;
Nothing are days and deeds to such as they,
While in this liberal house thy face is bright.




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