Poetry Explorer


Classic and Contemporary Poetry


THE COLOSSUS OF RHODES by VICTOR MARIE HUGO

Poem Explanation

First Line: MY NAME IS LIGHT. I AM SEVENTY CUBITS HIGH
Last Line: IN THE DEEP TRANCE OF MY COLOSSAL STARE.
Subject(s): LIGHT; RHODES (ISLAND);

MY name is Light. I am seventy cubits high.
Ever I watch the unbridled waters beat,
A steadfast beacon. Under my huge feet
Lies Rhodes. My never-sleeping eyes descry
The snow-capt hills whereon the eagles fly.
The vast wheels of the star-led seasons fleet;
Man lives and dies; the moon-drawn tides retreat;
Fresh bales for barter on the flat wharves lie;

Day shines; the tempest slumbers or shows ire;
Warder of the blue vast I stand alway
A fixéd sentinel for ever ware;
Nor dawn nor twilight can these eyeballs tire
That watch sails fill, and waves like hounds that bay,
In the deep trance of my Colossal stare.



Home: PoetryExplorer.net