Classic and Contemporary Poetry
SONG, by EDWARD ROBERT BULWER-LYTTON Poet Analysis Poet's Biography First Line: The purple iris hangs his head Last Line: Reels all away. Alternate Author Name(s): Meredith, Owen; Lytton, 1st Earl Of; Lytton, Robert Subject(s): Nature | ||||||||
THE purple iris hangs his head On his lean stalk, and so declines: The spider spills his silver thread Between the bells of columbines: An altered light in flickering eves Draws dews through these dim eyes of ours: Death walks in yonder waning bowers, And burns the blistering leaves. Ah, well-a-day! Blooms overblow: Suns sink away: Sweet things decay. The drunken beetle, roused ere night, Breaks blundering from the rotting rose, Flits through blue spidery aconite, And hums, and comes, and goes: His thick, bewildered song receives A drowsy sense of grief like ours: He hums and hums among the bowers, And bangs about the leaves. Ah, well-a-day! Hearts overflow: Joy flits away: Sweet things decay. Her yellow stars the jasmin drops In mildewed mosses one by one: The hollyhocks fall off their tops: The lotus-blooms ail white i' the sun: The freckled foxglove faints and grieves: The smooth-paced slumbrous slug devours The gluey globes of gorgeous flowers, And smears the glistering leaves! Ah, well-a-day! Life leaves us so. Love dare not stay. Sweet things decay. From brazen sunflowers, orb and fringe, The burning burnish dulls and dies: Sad Autumn sets a sullen tinge Upon the scornful peonies: The dewy frog limps out, and heaves A speckled lump in speckled bowers: A reeking moisture, clings and lowers The lips of lapping leaves. Ah, well-a-day! Ere the cock crow, Life's charmed array Reels all away. | Discover our Poem Explanations and Poet Analyses!Other Poems of Interest...INTERRUPTED MEDITATION by ROBERT HASS TWO VIEWS OF BUSON by ROBERT HASS THE FATALIST: HOME by LYN HEJINIAN WRITING IS AN AID TO MEMORY: 17 by LYN HEJINIAN LET US GATHER IN A FLOURISHING WAY by JUAN FELIPE HERRERA IN MICHAEL ROBINS?ÇÖS CLASS MINUS ONE by HICOK. BOB BREADTH. CIRCLE. DESERT. MONARCH. MONTH. WISDOM by JOHN HOLLANDER VARIATIONS: 16 by CONRAD AIKEN UNHOLY SONNET 13 by MARK JARMAN THE LAST WISH by EDWARD ROBERT BULWER-LYTTON THE WANDERER: 2. IN FRANCE: AUX ITALIENS by EDWARD ROBERT BULWER-LYTTON THE WANDERER: 2. IN FRANCE: THE CHESSBOARD by EDWARD ROBERT BULWER-LYTTON |
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