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Classic and Contemporary Poetry
THE SCHOOLMASTER ABROAD WITH HIS SON, by CHARLES STUART CALVERLEY Poet's Biography First Line: O what harper could worthily harp it Last Line: Of seven or eight. Subject(s): Travel; Journeys; Trips | |||
O WHAT harper could worthily harp it, Mine Edward! this wide-stretching wold (Look out wold) with its wonderful carpet Of emerald, purple, and gold! Look well at it -- also look sharp, it Is getting so cold. The purple is heather (erica); The yellow, gorse -- call'd sometimes "whin." Cruel boys on its prickles might spike a Green beetle as if on a pin. You may roll in it, if you would like a Few holes in your skin. You wouldn't? Then think of how kind you Should be to the insects who crave Your compassion -- and then, look behind you At you barley-ears! Don't they look brave As they undulate (undulate, mind you, From unda, a wave). The noise of those sheep-bells, how faint it Sounds here -- (on account of our height)! And this hillock itself -- who could paint it, With its changes of shadow and light? Is it not -- (never, Eddy, say "ain't it") -- A marvellous sight? Then yon desolate eerie morasses, The haunts of the snipe and the hern -- (I shall question the two upper classes On aquatiles, when we return) -- Why, I see on them absolute masses Of filix or fern. How it interests e'en a beginner (Or tiro) like dear little Ned! Is he listening? As I am a sinner He's asleep -- he is wagging his head. Wake up! I'll go home to my dinner, And you to your bed. The boundless ineffable prairie; The splendour of mountain and lake With their hues that seem ever to vary; The mighty pine-forests which shake In the wind, and in which the unwary May tread on a snake; And this wold with its heathery garment Are themes undeniably great. But -- although there is not any harm in't -- It's perhaps little good to dilate On their charms to a dull little varmint Of seven or eight. | Discover our Poem Explanations and Poet Analyses!Other Poems of Interest...RICHARD, WHAT'S THAT NOISE? by RICHARD HOWARD LOOKING FOR THE GULF MOTEL by RICHARD BLANCO RIVERS INTO SEAS by LYNDA HULL DESTINATIONS by JOSEPHINE JACOBSEN THE ONE WHO WAS DIFFERENT by RANDALL JARRELL THE CONFESSION OF ST. JIM-RALPH by DENIS JOHNSON |
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