Poetry Explorer

Classic and Contemporary Poetry

THE RIVER DUDDON: SONNET 11. THE FAIRY CHASM by WILLIAM WORDSWORTH

Poet Analysis

First Line: NO FICTION WAS IT OF THE ANTIQUE AGE
Last Line: O'ER TWILIGHT FIELDS THE AUTUMNAL GOSSAMER?
NO fiction was it of the antique age:
A sky-blue stone, within this sunless cleft,
Is of the very footmarks unbereft
Which tiny Elves impressed; -- on that smooth stage
Dancing with all their brilliant equipage
In secret revels -- haply after theft
Of some sweet Babe -- Flower stolen, and coarse Weed left
For the distracted Mother to assuage
Her grief with, as she might! -- But, where, oh! where
Is traceable a vestige of the notes
That ruled those dances wild in character? --
Deep underground? Or in the upper air,
On the shrill wind of midnight? or where floats
O'er twilight fields the autumnal gossamer?



Home: PoetryExplorer.net