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Classic and Contemporary Poetry


WITH AN ARMCHAIR by JAMES RUSSELL LOWELL

Poet Analysis

First Line: ABOUT THE OAK THAT FRAMED THIS CHAIR OF OLD
Last Line: THAT, SEAS BETWEEN US, SHE IS STILL HIS GUEST.
Subject(s): CHAIRS; FRIENDSHIP;

ABOUT the oak that framed this chair, of old
The seasons danced their round; delighted wings
Brought music to its boughs; shy woodland things
Shared its broad roof, 'neath whose green glooms grown bold,
Lovers, more shy than they, their secret told;
The resurrection of a thousand springs
Swelled in its veins, and dim imaginings
Teased them, perchance, of life more manifold.
Such shall it know when its proud arms enclose
My Lady Goshawk, musing here at rest,
Careless of him who into exile goes,
Yet, while his gift by those fair limbs is prest,
Through some fine sympathy of nature knows
That, seas between us, she is still his guest.



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