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Classic and Contemporary Poetry


SONNET: 19. THE SAME CONTINUED by JAMES RUSSELL LOWELL

Poet Analysis

First Line: FAR 'YOND THIS NARROW PARAPET OF TIME
Last Line: UNDIMMED BY CLOUDS OF WEAK MORTALITY.
Subject(s): CAPITAL PUNISHMENT; POETRY & POETS; WORDSWORTH, WILLIAM (1770-1850); HANGING; EXECUTIONS; DEATH PENALTY;

FAR 'yond this narrow parapet of Time,
With eyes uplift, the poet's soul should look
Into the Endless Promise, nor should brook
One prying doubt to shake his faith sublime;
To him the earth is ever in her prime
And dewiness of morning; he can see
Good lying hid, from all eternity,
Within the teeming womb of sin and crime;
His soul should not be cramped by any bar,
His nobleness should be so Godlike high,
That his least deed is perfect as a star,
His common look majestic as the sky,
And all o'erflooded with a light from far,
Undimmed by clouds of weak mortality.



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