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Classic and Contemporary Poetry


AT DIEPPE: 2. ON THE BEACH by ARTHUR WILLIAM SYMONS

Poet Analysis

First Line: NIGHT, A GREY SKY, A GHOSTLY SEA
Last Line: BLOTS OUT THE VERY HOPE OF DAY.
Subject(s): DIEPPE, FRANCE; SEASHORE; BEACH; COAST; SHORE;

Night, a grey sky, a ghostly sea,
The soft beginning of the rain;
Black on the horizon, sails that wane
Into the distance mistily.

The tide is rising, I can hear
The soft roar broadening far along;
It cries and murmurs in my ear
A sleepy old forgotten song.

Softly the stealthy night descends,
The black sails fade into the sky:
Is not this, where the sea-line ends,
The shore-line of infinity?

I cannot think or dream; the grey
Unending waste of sea and night,
Dull, impotently infinite,
Blots out the very hope of day.



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