Classic and Contemporary Poetry
SONNET: 24. THE STREET, by JAMES RUSSELL LOWELL Poet Analysis Poet's Biography First Line: They pass me by like shadows, crowds on crowds Last Line: A dead soul's epitaph in every face! Subject(s): Streets; Avenues | ||||||||
THEY pass me by like shadows, crowds on crowds, Dim ghosts of men, that hover to and fro, Hugging their bodies round them like thin shrouds Wherein their souls were buried long ago: They trampled on their youth, and faith, and love, They cast their hope of human-kind away, With Heaven's clear messages they madly strove, And conquered, -- and their spirits turned to clay: Lo! how they wander round the world, their grave, Whose ever-gaping maw by such is fed, Gibbering at living men, and idly rave, "We, only, truly live, but ye are dead." Alas! poor fools, the anointed eye may trace A dead soul's epitaph in every face! | Discover our Poem Explanations and Poet Analyses!Other Poems of Interest...CHINATOWN BLUES by CLARENCE MAJOR KEEP DRIVING by NAOMI SHIHAB NYE DEEP IN EUROPE by TOMAS TRANSTROMER IN THE STREETS by LOUIS UNTERMEYER EVENING SONG ON OUR STREET by DAVID WAGONER ANGLOSAXON STREET by EARL (EARLE) BIRNEY A STEP AWAY FROM THEM by FRANK O'HARA (1926-1966) AFTER THE BURIAL by JAMES RUSSELL LOWELL |
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