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Classic and Contemporary Poetry


THE SYMBOLIST by ALFRED NOYES

Poet Analysis

First Line: HELP ME TO SEEK THAT UNKNOWN LAND
Last Line: AND BUILT A HOUSE OF SNOW.

HELP me to seek that unknown land,
Help me to see the shrine,
Help me to feel the hidden hand
That ever holdeth mine.

Help me to seek, and I shall see;
To hear, and I shall know;
To feel, and I shall hold in fee
The realms of earth below.

Help me to mourn, and I shall love;
What grief is like to mine?
Crown me with thorn, the stars above
Shall in the circlet shine!

The mystic angels group and kneel
Around the cross of flame,
Crying, as through the gloom they steal,
The glory of the Name.

The Temple opens wide: none sees
The love, the dream, the light;
Oh blind and finite, are not these
Blinding and infinite?

The veil, the veil is rent: the skies
Are white with wings of fire,
Where victim souls triumphant rise
In torment of desire.

Help me to seek: I would not find,
For when I find I know
I shall have clasped the hollow wind
And built a house of snow.



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