Classic and Contemporary Poetry
SONNETS FROM THE PORTUGUESE: 5, by ELIZABETH BARRETT BROWNING Poet Analysis Poet's Biography First Line: I lift my heavy heart up solemnly Last Line: The hair beneath. Stand farther off then! Go. Subject(s): Grief; Sorrow; Sadness | ||||||||
I LIFT my heavy heart up solemnly, As once Electra her sepulchral urn, And, looking in thine eyes, I overturn The ashes at thy feet. Behold and see What a great heap of grief lay hid in me, And how the red wild sparkles dimly burn Through the ashen grayness. If thy foot in scorn Could tread them out to darkness utterly, It might be well perhaps. But if instead Thou wait beside me for the wind to blow The gray dust up, ... those laurels on thine head, O my Beloved, will not shield thee so, That none of all the fires shall scorch and shred The hair beneath. Stand farther off then! go. | Discover our Poem Explanations and Poet Analyses!Other Poems of Interest...SONOMA FIRE by JANE HIRSHFIELD AS THE SPARKS FLY UPWARDS by JOHN HOLLANDER WHAT GREAT GRIEF HAS MADE THE EMPRESS MUTE by JUNE JORDAN CHAMBER MUSIC: 19 by JAMES JOYCE DIRGE AT THE END OF THE WOODS by LEONIE ADAMS A CHILD'S THOUGHT OF GOD by ELIZABETH BARRETT BROWNING |
|