WAS the aim frustrated by force or guile, When giants scooped from out the rocky ground, Tier under tier, this semicirque profound? (Giants -- the same who built in Erin's isle That Causeway with incomparable toil!) -- Oh, had this vast theatric structure wound With finished sweep into a perfect round, No mightier work had gained the plausive smile Of all-beholding Phoebus! But, alas, Vain earth! false world! Foundations must be laid In Heaven; for, 'mid the wreck of IS and WAS, Things incomplete and purposes betrayed Make sadder transits o'er thought's optic glass Than noblest objects utterly decayed. | Discover our Poem Explanations and Poet Analyses!Other Poems of Interest...ECHOES: 35. MARGARITAE SORORI by WILLIAM ERNEST HENLEY PICTURES FROM APPLEDORE: 2 by JAMES RUSSELL LOWELL THE ARGONAUTS (ARGONATUICA): MEDEA'S DREAM by APOLLONIUS RHODIUS SONNET: 4 by RICHARD BARNFIELD SONNET OF LIFE by ERNEST BENSHIMOL THE OLD THIRTEEN by CHARLES TIMOTHY BROOKS PRIVATE DEVOTION by PHOEBE HINSDALE BROWN |