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Classic and Contemporary Poetry

MILAN CATHEDRAL by HERMAN MELVILLE

Poet Analysis

First Line: THROUGH LIGHT GREEN HAZE, A ROLLING SEA
Last Line: EXCEPT TO SIGNIFY THE HOST OF HEAVEN.
Subject(s): CHURCHES; MILAN, ITALY; CATHEDRALS;
Through light green haze, a rolling sea
Over gardens where redundance flows,
The fat old plain of Lombardy,
The White Cathedral shows.

Of Art the miracles
Its tribes of pinnacles
Gleam like to ice-peaks snowed; and higher,
Erect upon each airy spire
In concourse without end,
Statues of saints over saints ascend
Like multitudinous forks of fire.

What motive was the master-builder's here?
Why these synodic hierarchies given,
Sublimely ranked in marble sessions clear,
Except to signify the host of heaven.



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