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Classic and Contemporary Poetry
A DREAM, by MATTHEW ARNOLD Poet Analysis Poet's Biography First Line: Was it a dream? We sailed, I thought we sailed Last Line: Bristled with cities, us the sea receiv'd. Subject(s): Dreams; Travel; Nightmares; Journeys; Trips | |||
WAS it a dream? We sail'd, I thought we sail'd, Martin and I, down a green Alpine stream, Under o'erhanging pines; the morning sun, On the wet umbrage of their glossy tops, On the red pinings of their forest floor, Drew a warm scent abroad; behind the pines The mountain skirts, with all their sylvan change Of bright-leaf'd chestnuts, and moss'd walnut-trees, And the frail scarlet-berried ash, began. Swiss chalets glitter'd on the dewy slopes, And from some swarded shelf high up, there came Notes of wild pastoral music: over all Rang'd, diamond-bright, the eternal wall of snow. Upon the mossy rocks at the stream's edge, Back'd by the pines, a plank-built cottage stood, Bright in the sun; the climbing gourd-plant's leaves Muffled its walls, and on the stone-strewn roof Lay the warm golden gourds; golden, within, Under the eaves, peer'd rows of Indian corn. We shot beneath the cottage with the stream. On the brown rude-carv'd balcony two Forms Came forth--Olivia's, Marguerite! and thine. Clad were they both in white, flowers in their breast; Straw hats bedeck'd their heads, with ribbons blue Which wav'd, and on their shoulders fluttering play'd. They saw us, they conferr'd; their bosoms heav'd, And more than mortal impulse fill'd their eyes. Their lips mov'd; their white arms, wav'd eagerly, Flash'd once, like falling streams:--we rose, we gaz'd: One moment, on the rapid's top, our boat Hung pois'd--and then the darting River of Life, Loud thundering, bore us by: swift, swift it foam'd; Black under cliffs it rac'd, round headlands shone. Soon the plank'd cottage 'mid the sun-warm'd pines Faded, the moss, the rocks; us burning Plains Bristled with cities, us the Sea receiv'd. | Discover our Poem Explanations and Poet Analyses!Other Poems of Interest...RICHARD, WHAT'S THAT NOISE? by RICHARD HOWARD LOOKING FOR THE GULF MOTEL by RICHARD BLANCO RIVERS INTO SEAS by LYNDA HULL DESTINATIONS by JOSEPHINE JACOBSEN THE ONE WHO WAS DIFFERENT by RANDALL JARRELL THE CONFESSION OF ST. JIM-RALPH by DENIS JOHNSON SESTINA: TRAVEL NOTES by WELDON KEES TO H. B. (WITH A BOOK OF VERSE) by MAURICE BARING |
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