Poetry Explorer- Classic Contemporary Poetry, ABYSS, by GERARD MANLEY HOPKINS



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Classic and Contemporary Poetry

ABYSS, by                 Poet Analysis     Poet's Biography
First Line: No worst, there is none. Pitched past pitch of grief
Last Line: Life death does end and each day dies with sleep.
Variant Title(s): "the Terrible Sonnets: 2;""no Worst, There Is More, Pitched Past Pitch Of Grief"";
Subject(s): Death; Despair; Grief; Religion; Social Protest; Dead, The; Sorrow; Sadness; Theology


NO worst, there is none. Pitched past pitch of grief,
More pangs will, schooled at forepangs, wilder wring.
Comforter, where, where is your comforting?
Mary, mother of us, where is your relief?
My cries heave, herds-long; huddle in a main, a chief
Woe, world-sorrow; on an age-old anvil wince and sing --
Then lull, then leave off. Fury had shrieked 'No lingering!
Let me be fell: force I must be brief'.

O the mind, mind has mountains; cliffs of fall
Frightful, sheer, no-man-fathomed. Hold them cheap
May who ne'er hung there. Nor does long our small
Durance deal with that steep or deep. Here! creep,
Wretch, under a comfort serves in a whirlwind: all
Life death does end and each day dies with sleep.






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