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Discover our Poem Explanations and Poet Analyses!Searching... Author: DAY LEWIS, CECIL Matches Found: 177 Day Lewis, Cecil Poet's Biography Alternate Author Name(s): Blake, Nicolas 177 poems available by this author A CAROL Poem Text First Line: Oh hush thee, my baby Last Line: The price of a soul Subject(s): Christmas; Nativity, The A TIME TO DANCE Poem Text First Line: For those had the power Last Line: Our lives they are evergreen. Subject(s): Aviation & Aviators; Death; Hope; Airplanes; Air Pilots; Dead, The; Optimism ALBUM First Line: I see you, a child Last Line: Has blossomed again,' she murmurs, 'all that you missed there %has grown to be yours' Subject(s): Love ALL GONE Poem Text First Line: The sea drained off, my poverty's uncovered Last Line: Revive or drown, a liberating arm! Subject(s): Truth ALMOST HUMAN First Line: The man you know, assured and king AS ONE WHO WANDERS INTO OLD WORKINGS Poem Text AS ONE WHO WANDERS INTO OLD WORKINGS ASSERTION First Line: Now in the face of destruction BATTLE OF BRITAIN Poem Text First Line: What did we earth-bound make of it? A tangle Last Line: Their luck, skill, nerve. And they were young like you. Subject(s): Film (photography); Great Britain - History; World War Ii; English History; Second World War BIRTHDAY POEM FOR THOMAS HARDY Poem Text First Line: It is birthday weather for you, dear soul Last Line: Since you have been. Subject(s): Hardy, Thomas (1840-1928); Poetry & Poets BOMBERS First Line: Through the vague morning, the heart preoccupied Last Line: Be condemned to die by the powers you paid for %and haunt the houses you never built? BUZZARDS OVER CASTLE HILL First Line: A world seems to end at the top of this hill CAN THE MOLE TAKE CAROL First Line: Oh hush thee, my baby Last Line: The price of a soul Subject(s): Christmas CHILDREN LOOK DOWN UPON THE MORNING-GRAY CHORUS First Line: Since you have come thus far Last Line: And believe that beyond this flood a kinder country lies CHRISTMAS TREE First Line: Put out the lights now! Last Line: If it lives or dies now Subject(s): Christmas; Environment; Trees CHRYSANTHEMUM SHOW First Line: Here's abbey way: here are the rooms Last Line: But youth's brief agony can blaze %into a posthumous joy CIRCUS LION First Line: Lumbering haunches, pussyfoot tread, a pride of %lions under the arcs Last Line: Not anger enough left - no, nor despair - %to break his teeth on the bars COME UP, METHUSELAH COMMITTEE First Line: So the committee met again, and again Last Line: That I should have to chairman, secretary, %and all the committee, all the one-man committee Subject(s): Bureaucracy DEAD First Line: They lie in the sunday street Last Line: Not I, nor even fate Variant Title(s): War Poe DEDICATORY STANZAS First Line: Poets are not in much demand these days DEPARTURE IN THE DARK Poem Text First Line: Nothing so sharply reminds a man he is mortal Last Line: And will be, even to the last of his dark departures. Subject(s): Exodus From Egypt DESIRE IS A WITCH Poem Text Last Line: Pandora's privacies Subject(s): Desire DESIRE IS A WITCH Last Line: Needs no other proof %than its own fire Subject(s): Desire DO NOT EXPECT AGAIN A PHOENIX HOUR Last Line: Leafy the boughs - they also hide big fruit DOUBLE VISION First Line: The river in this november afternoon ECSTATIC First Line: Lark, skylark, spilling your rubbed and round Last Line: That estuary drop down to peace Subject(s): Birds EMILY BRONTE Poem Text First Line: All is the same still. Earth and heaven locked in Last Line: And death-rebuking star Subject(s): Bronte, Emily (1818-1848) EMILY BRONTE First Line: All is the same still. Earth and heaven locked in Last Line: Over his pain my chaste, my disenchanted %and death-rebukingstar Subject(s): Bronte, Emily (1818-1848) ENDING First Line: That it should end so EWIG First Line: Multitudes of corn FAILURE First Line: The soil was deep and the field well-sited FEW THINGS CAN MORE INFLAME FLIGHT TO ITALY, SELS. First Line: The winged bull trundles to the wired perimeter Last Line: The neutered terraces subside beneath us FLIGHT, SELS. First Line: And now the earth they has spurned rose up against FOOTSTEPS First Line: Born of my voiceless time, your steps FOR THE INVESTITURE Poem Text First Line: Today bells ring, bands play, flags are unfurled Last Line: One song, one prayer—god bless the prince of wales. Subject(s): Castles; Charles, Prince Of Wales (b. 1948); Courts & Courtiers; Crowns; Happiness; Singing & Singers; Wales; Royal Court Life; Royalty; Kings; Queens; Joy; Delight; Songs; Welshmen; Welshwomen FROM FEATHERS TO IRON First Line: Suppose that we, to-morrow or the next day GRAVEYARD BY THE SEA First Line: This quiet roof, where dove-sails saunter by H-- LAUGHTER WAS BETTER THAN BIRDS IN THE MORNING Poem Text Last Line: For s/he lives in the earth around us, laughs from the sky Subject(s): Morning; Conduct Of Life H-- LAUGHTER WAS BETTER THAN BIRDS IN THE MORNING Last Line: For s/he lives in the earth around us, laughs from the sky Subject(s): Life Change Events HAIL TEESSIDE! Poem Text First Line: Old ironmasters and their iron men Last Line: And earn fresh honours for our own teesside. Subject(s): Buildings & Builders; Creation; Enterprise (ship); Iron & Steel Industry; Printing & Printers; Towns HAPPY VIEW First Line: So take a happy view Last Line: Man's joy will seed, his cold %and hardy fingers find an eagle's hold HARD FROST First Line: A frost came in the night and stole my world HEART AND MIND First Line: Said heart to mind at the close of day HEARTSEASE First Line: Do you remember that hour HORNPIPE First Line: Now the peak of summer's past, the sky is overcast HOUSE-WARMING First Line: Did you notice at all as you entered the house IN HEAVEN, I SUPPOSE, LIE DOWN TOGETHER DAY LEWIS, CECIL REST FROM LOVING AND BE LIVING Poem Text IN HEAVEN, I SUPPOSE, LIE DOWN TOGETHER 1 DAY LEWIS, CECIL IN THE HEART OF CONTEMPLATION' IN THE SHELTER First Line: In a shelter one night, when death was taking the air IS IT FAR TO GO? IT IS BECOMING NOW TO DECLARE MY ALLEGIANCE Last Line: So cheat I the memory that works in gilt %and stucco to restore a fallen day JUVENILIA First Line: So this is you LEARNING TO TALK Poem Text First Line: See this small one, tiptoe on Last Line: When we go down, they will be tall ones Subject(s): Life Change Events LEARNING TO TALK First Line: See this small one, tiptoe on Last Line: When we go down, they will be tall ones Subject(s): Life Change Events LETTER TO W.H. AUDEN First Line: A mole first, out of riddling passages LINES FOR EDMUND BLUNDEN ON HIS FIFTIETH BIRTHDAY First Line: Your fiftieth birthday. What shall we give you? MAGNETIC MOUNTAIN: 1 First Line: Now to be with you, elate, unshared Last Line: Oh hasten hither my kestrel joy! Subject(s): Sea MAGNETIC MOUNTAIN: 10 First Line: You'll be leaving soon and it's up to you boys Last Line: Without insignia? Then you've still a chance to win MAGNETIC MOUNTAIN: 11 First Line: Third defendant speaks %I have always acted for the best Last Line: The crust crumbles, the veins run vinegar Subject(s): Religion MAGNETIC MOUNTAIN: 12 First Line: Oh, the subterranean fires, break out Last Line: We may receive the exile spirit %coming into its own MAGNETIC MOUNTAIN: 13 First Line: Fourth defendant speaks %to sit at the head of one's own table Last Line: Mysteries, a dark glass may save my life MAGNETIC MOUNTAIN: 14 First Line: Live you by love confined Last Line: The integral spirit climbs %the dark in light forever Subject(s): Love MAGNETIC MOUNTAIN: 15 First Line: Consider. These are they Last Line: But the full man must live %rooted yet unconfined MAGNETIC MOUNTAIN: 16 First Line: Look west, wystan, lone flier, birdman, my bully boy Last Line: Migrate, chaste my kestrel, you need a change of air Subject(s): Auden, Wystan Hugh (1907-1973); Poetry And Poets MAGNETIC MOUNTAIN: 17 First Line: First enemy speaks %begin perhaps with jokes across the table Last Line: I suppose you hate me, now MAGNETIC MOUNTAIN: 18 First Line: Not love nor hate, but say Last Line: Hammer is poised and sickle %sharpened. I cannot stay MAGNETIC MOUNTAIN: 19 First Line: Second enemy speaks %now sir, now madam, we're all plain people here Last Line: And you'll have a treat one day if you're good boys MAGNETIC MOUNTAIN: 2 First Line: But two there are, shadow us everywhere Last Line: And buy our liberty with out last breath MAGNETIC MOUNTAIN: 20 First Line: Fireman and farmer, father and flapper Last Line: You'd better quit the country before it's too late MAGNETIC MOUNTAIN: 21 First Line: Third enemy speaks %god is a proposition Last Line: The clinic trinity Subject(s): Religion MAGNETIC MOUNTAIN: 22 First Line: Where is he, where? How the man stares Last Line: They have him at heart, they shake hands, they know he is near MAGNETIC MOUNTAIN: 23 First Line: Fourth enemy speaks %I' a dreamer, so are you Last Line: Again and passion sleep secure %in creative ebb and flow MAGNETIC MOUNTAIN: 24 First Line: Tempt me no more; for I Last Line: Take it. It is well spent %easing a savior's birth Subject(s): Freedom MAGNETIC MOUNTAIN: 25 First Line: Consider these, for we have condemned them Last Line: The break with the past, the major operation MAGNETIC MOUNTAIN: 26 First Line: Junction or terminus - here we alight Last Line: Luck's turned. Submit to your star and take %command, o start the attacking movement! MAGNETIC MOUNTAIN: 27 First Line: Wystan, rex, all of you that have not fled Last Line: New life is on the way, relief train MAGNETIC MOUNTAIN: 28 First Line: Thoug winter's barricade delays Last Line: Your tractors and your travelling-cranes MAGNETIC MOUNTAIN: 29 First Line: But winter still rides rough-shod upon us Last Line: And satisfied see a good day dying %accepting the shadows, sure of seed MAGNETIC MOUNTAIN: 3 First Line: Somewhere beyond the railheads MAGNETIC MOUNTAIN: 30 First Line: You who would come with us Last Line: That new life must break through MAGNETIC MOUNTAIN: 31 First Line: In happier times Last Line: Make us a wind from a new world! MAGNETIC MOUNTAIN: 33 First Line: Come for a walk in our pleasant land Last Line: We'd like to love, but we've lost the knack MAGNETIC MOUNTAIN: 34. FOR FRANCES WARNER First Line: What do we ask for, then? Last Line: What wainwright wrote with his blood, rosa in prison - %all who sucked out the poison MAGNETIC MOUNTAIN: 35 First Line: In these our winter days Last Line: The sun returned to power above %a world, but not the same MAGNETIC MOUNTAIN: 36 First Line: Now raise your voices for a final chorus Last Line: This is your day: so turn, my comrades, turn %like infants' eyes like sunflowers to the light MAGNETIC MOUNTAIN: 4 First Line: Make no mistake, this where you get off Last Line: Make a clean sweep or a clean end MAGNETIC MOUNTAIN: 5 First Line: Let us be off! Our steam Last Line: Traveller, take care. %pick no flowers there MAGNETIC MOUNTAIN: 7 First Line: First defendant speaks %I that was two am one Last Line: Pit-heads encroach or glacier crawl down MAGNETIC MOUNTAIN: 8 First Line: This was your world and this I owe you Last Line: Enough memorial for the dead MAGNETIC MOUNTAIN: 9 First Line: Second defendant speaks %let us now praise famous men Last Line: For the passing of an era, at their own funeral MAPLE AND SUMACH Poem Text First Line: Maple and sumach down this autumn ride Last Line: Speak in me now for all who are to die! Subject(s): Autumn; Environment; Seasons; Trees; Fall; Environmental Protection; Ecology; Conservation MARRIAGE OF TWO First Line: So they were married, and lived MARRIED DIALOGUE First Line: It is out at last MEDITATION First Line: At a junction of years I stand, with the stars palsied MEETING First Line: Meeting the first time for many years Last Line: For years? Nature, it seems, can afford %such wastefulness -not we MEETING First Line: Did I meet you again MINOR TRAGEDY First Line: Hundreds went down to the ocean bed MISFIT First Line: At the training depot that first morning MOVING IN Poem Text First Line: Is it your hope, hope's hearth, heart's home, here at the lane's end Last Line: Proudly reaped the light, passed peacefully into dark Subject(s): Moving & Movers MOVING IN First Line: Is it your hope, hope's hearth, heart's home, here at the lane's end Subject(s): Moving And Movers MY MOTHER'S SISTER Poem Text First Line: I see her against the pearl sky of dublin Last Line: How can gthis be justified? How can it / be justified? Subject(s): Aunts; Spinsters; Old Maids MY MOTHER'S SISTER First Line: I see her against the pearl sky of dublin Last Line: How can this be justified, how can it %be justified? Subject(s): Aunts; Spinsters NABARA First Line: Freedom is more than a word, more than the base coinage Last Line: Long after nabara's passion was quenched in the sea's heart NEUROTIC First Line: The spring came round, and still he was not dead NEWBORN First Line: This mannikin who just now Last Line: As though mankind's begun %again in you Subject(s): Life Change Events NOW SHE IS LIKE THE WHITE TREE-ROSE Last Line: She has at heart a certain dawn O DREAMS, O DESTINATIONS Poem Text First Line: For infants time is like a humming shell Last Line: We settle, but like feathers on time's flow. Subject(s): Mortality ODE First Line: The moon slides through a whey of cloud; the running ON NOT SAYING EVERYTHING Poem Text First Line: This tree outside my window here Last Line: From the not saying anything Subject(s): Love; Poetry & Poets ON NOT SAYING EVERYTHING First Line: This tree outside my window here Last Line: Love's essence, like a poem's, shall spring %from the not saying everything Subject(s): Love; Poetry And Poets ON THE SEA WALL First Line: As I came to the sea wall that august day ONE AND ONE Poem Text First Line: I remember, as if it were yesterday Last Line: Proving that one and one make one Subject(s): Musical Instruments ONE AND ONE First Line: I remember, as if it were yesterday Subject(s): Musical Instruments OUTSIDE AND IN First Line: How pretty it looks, thought a passer-by OVERTURES TO DEATH: 7 First Line: For us, born into a still Last Line: Mister, you can rely on us %to execute your will POEM First Line: A forward child, a sullen child POEM FOR AN ANNIVERSARY First Line: Admit then and be glad Last Line: And earth has grain to grow PROLOGUE First Line: This curve of ploughland, one clean stroke Last Line: Birth of our new seed and bear my part of the harvest RECONCILIATION Poem Text First Line: All day beside the shattered tank he'd lain Subject(s): World War Ii; Second World War RECONCILIATION First Line: All day beside the shattered tank he'd lain Last Line: Appear the argent, swan-assembled reaches Subject(s): World War Ii REST FROM LOVING AND BE LIVING Poem Text Last Line: Cease denying, begin knowing Subject(s): Conduct Of Life REST FROM LOVING AND BE LIVING REVENANT First Line: Out of the famous canyon ROOM; FOR GEORGE SEFERIS First Line: To this room - it was somewhere at the palace's Last Line: That under the royal action and abstraction %he lived in, he was real SEEN FROM THE TRAIN First Line: Somewhere between crewkerne SHEEPDOG TRIALS IN HYDE PARK; FOR ROBERT FROST Poem Text First Line: A shepherd stands at one end of the arena Last Line: Controlled woolgathering is my work too Subject(s): Animals; Dogs; Shepherds & Sheperdesses SHEEPDOG TRIALS IN HYDE PARK; FOR ROBERT FROST First Line: A shepherd stands at one end of the arena Last Line: Of shepherding the unruly, for a kind of %controlled woolgathering is my work too Subject(s): Animals; Dogs SKETCHES FOR A PORTRAIT First Line: Consider the boy that you were, although you would hardly SONG First Line: Oh light was my head as the seed of a thistle SONG First Line: Love was once light as air SONNET First Line: When they have lost the little that they looked STAND-TO First Line: Autumn met me today as I walked over castle hill Last Line: But pinned to the heart of darkness a tattered fire-flag flies Subject(s): Soldiers; World War Ii STATUETTE: LATE MINOAN Poem Text First Line: Girl of the musing mouth Last Line: As I, unblest Subject(s): Statues; Girls; Time STATUETTE: LATE MINOAN First Line: Girl of the musing mouth Last Line: They were dreams of one %thirsting as for rest, %as I, unblest Subject(s): Native Americans - Pre-columbian THE ALBUM Poem Text First Line: I see you, a child Last Line: Has grown to be your Subject(s): Love THE CHRISTMAS TREE Poem Text First Line: Put out the lights now! Last Line: If it lives or dies now Subject(s): Christmas Trees; Environment; Nativity, The; Environmental Protection; Ecology; Conservation THE COMMITTEE Poem Text First Line: So the committee met again, and again Last Line: Or be adjourned, sine die, their task half done? Subject(s): Bureaucracy THE CONFLICT Poem Text First Line: I sang as one Last Line: Between two fires. Subject(s): Perseverance THE ECSTATIC Poem Text First Line: Lark, skylark, spilling your rubbed and round Last Line: That estuary drop down to peace Subject(s): Birds THE MAGNETIC MOUNTAIN: 1 Poem Text First Line: Now to be with you, elate, unshared Last Line: Oh hasten hither my kestrel joy Subject(s): Sea; Ocean THE MAGNETIC MOUNTAIN: 11 Poem Text First Line: Third defendant speaks / I have always acted for the best Last Line: The crust crumbles, the veins run vinegar Subject(s): Religion; Theology THE MAGNETIC MOUNTAIN: 14 Poem Text First Line: Live you by love confined Last Line: The dark in light forever Subject(s): Love THE MAGNETIC MOUNTAIN: 16 Poem Text First Line: Look west, wystan, lone flier, birdman, my bully boy Last Line: Migrate, chaste my kestrel, you need a change of air Subject(s): Auden, Wystan Hugh (1907-1973); Poetry & Poets THE MAGNETIC MOUNTAIN: 21 Poem Text First Line: Third enemy speaks / god is a proposition Last Line: The clinic trinity Subject(s): Religion; Theology THE MAGNETIC MOUNTAIN: 24 Poem Text First Line: Tempt me no more; for I Last Line: Easing a saviour's birth Subject(s): Freedom; Liberty THE MAGNETIC MOUNTAIN: 3 Poem Text First Line: Somewhere beyond the railheads THE MAGNETIC MOUNTAIN: 32 Poem Text First Line: You that love england, who have an ear for her music Last Line: Wielders of power and welders of a new world. Subject(s): England; Revolutions; English THE NEWBORN Poem Text First Line: This mannikin who just now Last Line: Again in you Subject(s): Life Change Events THE SITTING Poem Text First Line: So like a god I sit here Last Line: And know not it ends in you. Subject(s): Paintings & Painters THE STAND-TO Poem Text First Line: Autumn met me today as I walked over castle hill Last Line: The apples drawn too early and shatters the sutyumn rose Subject(s): Soldiers; World War Ii; Second World War THE TOURISTS Poem Text First Line: Arriving was their passion Last Line: The state of simple being Subject(s): Travel; Journeys; Trips THE UNEXPLODED BOMB Poem Text First Line: Two householders (semi-detached) once found Subject(s): Bombs THEN AND NOW Poem Text First Line: Do you remember those mornings after the blitzes Last Line: Make real, of glory, common wealth, and home. Subject(s): Factories; Labor & Laborers; Labor Unions; Memory; News; Strikes; Surrey, England; Unemployment; Work; Workers; Labor Disputes; Lockouts TOURISTS First Line: Arriving was their passion Subject(s): Travel TRANSITIONAL POEM First Line: Now I have come to reason Last Line: Or stars from their pedestal, %this architecture will stand TWO SONGS: 1 Poem Text First Line: I've heard them lilting at loom and belting Subject(s): World War I; First World War TWO SONGS: 1 First Line: I've heard them lilting at loom and belting Last Line: The flowers of the town are all turned away Subject(s): World War I TWO SONGS: 2 Poem Text First Line: Come, live with me and be my love Last Line: Then live with me and be my love. Subject(s): Dramatists; Marlowe, Christopher (1564-1593); Poverty TWO TRAVELLERS First Line: One of us in the compartment stares UNEXPLODED BOMB First Line: Two householders (semi-detached) once found Last Line: If x. And y. Are too daft to unfuse me, %how the devil intends to use me Subject(s): Bombs UNWANTED First Line: On a day when the breath of roses WALKING AWAY Poem Text First Line: It is eighteen years ago, almost to the day Last Line: And love is proved in the letting go Subject(s): Farewell; Friendship; Growth; Parting WALKING AWAY First Line: It is eighteen years ago, almost to the day Last Line: And love is proved in the letting go Subject(s): Farewell; Friendship; Growth WATCHING POST Poem Text First Line: A hill flank overlooking the axe valley Last Line: A farmer and a poet, are keeping watch Subject(s): War WATCHING POST First Line: A hill flank overlooking the axe valley Last Line: A farmer and a poet, are keeping watch Subject(s): War WHERE ARE THE WAR POETS Poem Text First Line: They who in folly or mere greed Subject(s): Poetry & Poets; War WHERE ARE THE WAR POETS? Poem Text First Line: They who in folly or mere greed Subject(s): Poetry & Poets; War WHERE ARE THE WAR POETS? First Line: They who in folly or mere greed Last Line: That we who lived by honest dreams %defend the bad against the worse Subject(s): Poetry And Poets; War WHO GOES THERE WINTER NIGHT Poem Text First Line: This evening holds her breath WITH ME MY LOVE MAKES WOMAN ALONE First Line: Take any place - this garden plot will do WORD OVER ALL First Line: Now when drowning imagination clutches |
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