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Classic and Contemporary Poetry


SONNET: 3, 14 by FREDERICK GODDARD TUCKERMAN

First Line: AN EPISODE: YET WITH A RELISH RANK
Last Line: GIBRALTAR'S, OR THE GRIM ROCK OF VISGRADE.

An episode: yet with a relish rank
Of wild sea places--or of life indeed--
Where yet we find unstirred the secret seed
Of song or story marvellous, and thank
The sailor for his jest and manners rude.
More welcome, too, the old-fashioned fireside,
The beach of devils' aprons at low tide,
Than scandal bleeding-new, or journal dank.
Here did my dreaming childhood, listening, brood
On tales of wind and shipwreck; journeyings made
Island or inland; peaks at sea descried
Shaped like a wave, a table, or a tooth:
Old Peter Batte, that should be Pitherbooth,
Gibraltar's, or the grim Rock of Visgrade.



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