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Classic and Contemporary Poetry
CALAIS SANDS, by MATTHEW ARNOLD Poet Analysis Poet's Biography First Line: A thousand knights have rein'd their steeds Last Line: Beneath one roof, my queen! With mine. Subject(s): Calais, France | |||
A thousand knights have reined their steeds To watch this line of sand-hills run, Along the never silent Strait, To Calais glittering in the sun: To look toward Ardres' Golden Field Across this wide aerial plain, Which glows as if the Middle Age Were gorgeous upon earth again. Oh, that to share this famous scene I saw, upon the open sand, Thy lovely presence at my side, Thy shawl, thy look, thy smile, thy hand! How exquisite thy voice would come, My darling, on this lonely air! How sweetly would the fresh sea-breeze Shake loose some lock of soft brown hair! But now my glance but once hath roved Over Calais and its famous plain; To England's cliffs my gaze is turned, Over the blue Strait mine eyes I strain. Thou comest! Yes, the vessel's cloud Hangs dark upon the rolling sea! -- Oh that yon seabird's wings were mine To win one instant's glimpse of thee! I must not spring to grasp thy hand, To woo thy smile, to seek thine eye; But I may stand far off, and gaze And watch thee pass unconscious by, And spell thy looks, and guess thy thoughts, Mixt with the idlers on the pier. -- Ah, might I always rest unseen, So I might have thee always near! To-morrow hurry through the fields Of Flanders to the storied Rhine! To-night those soft-fringed eyes shall close Beneath one roof, my queen! with mine. | Discover our Poem Explanations and Poet Analyses!Other Poems of Interest...THE BURGHERS OF CALAIS by EMILY A. BRADDOCK ON CALAIS SANDS by ANDREW LANG CALAIS BEACON by AGNES MARY F. ROBINSON FISH-WOMEN - ON LANDING AT CALAIS by WILLIAM WORDSWORTH EMPEDOCLES ON ETNA; A DRAMATIC POEM by MATTHEW ARNOLD GEIST'S GRAVE by MATTHEW ARNOLD HAWORTH CHURCHYARD by MATTHEW ARNOLD |
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