Poetry Explorer- Classic Contemporary Poetry, THE HOUSE OF LIFE: 79. THE MONOCHORD, by DANTE GABRIEL ROSSETTI



Poetry Explorer

Classic and Contemporary Poetry

THE HOUSE OF LIFE: 79. THE MONOCHORD, by                 Poet Analysis     Poet's Biography
First Line: Is it this sky's vast vault or ocean's sound
Last Line: Upon the devious coverts of dismay?
Alternate Author Name(s): Rossetti, Gabriel Charles Dante
Subject(s): Music & Musicians


IS IT this sky's vast vault or ocean's sound
That is Life's self and draws my life from me,
And by instinct ineffable decree
Holds my breath quailing on the bitter bound?
Nay, is it Life or Death, thus thunder-crown'd,
That 'mid the tide of all emergency
Now notes my separate wave, and to what sea
Its difficult eddies labour in the ground?

Oh! what is this that knows the road I came,
The flame turned cloud, the cloud returned to flame,
The lifted shifted steeps and all the way?--
That draws round me at last this wind-warm space,
And in regenerate rapture turns my face
Upon the devious coverts of dismay?





Discover our Poem Explanations and Poet Analyses!


Other Poems of Interest...



Home: PoetryExplorer.net