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Classic and Contemporary Poetry


PROSERPINA (FOR A PICTURE) by DANTE GABRIEL ROSSETTI

Poet Analysis

First Line: AFAR AWAY THE LIGHT THAT BRINGS COLD CHEER
Last Line: "WOE'S ME FOR THEE, UNHAPPY PROSERPINE!"
Subject(s): PAINTINGS AND PAINTERS; PERSEPHONE; PROSERPINE; PROSERPINA;

AFAR away the light that brings cold cheer
Unto this wall,--one instant and no more
Admitted at my distant palace-door.
Afar the flowers of Enna from this drear
Dire fruit, which, tasted once, must thrall me here.
Afar those skies from this Tartarean grey
That chills me: and afar, how far away,
The nights that shall be from the days that were.

Afar from mine own self I seem, and wing
Strange ways in thought, and listen for a sign:
And still some heart unto some soul doth pine,
(Whose sounds mine inner sense is fain to bring,
Continually together murmuring,)--
"Woe's me for thee, unhappy Proserpine!"



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