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Classic and Contemporary Poetry


SONNET (3) by ALFRED TENNYSON

Poet Analysis

First Line: SHALL THE HAG EVIL DIE WITH CHILD OF GOOD
Last Line: NOR BLOT WITH FLOATING SHADES THE SOLAR LIGHT.

SHALL the hag Evil die with child of Good,
Or propagate again her loathed kind,
Thronging the cells of the diseased mind,
Hateful with hanging cheeks, a withered brood,
Though hourly pastured on the salient blood?
Oh! that the wind which bloweth cold or heat
Would shatter and o'erbear the brazen beat
Of their broad vans, and in the solitude
Of middle space confound them, and blow back
Their wild cries down their cavern throats, and slake
With points of blast-borne hail their heated eyne!
So their wan limbs no more might come between
The moon and the moon's reflex in the night,
Nor blot with floating shades the solar light.





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