Poetry Explorer- Classic Contemporary Poetry, THE BARREN MOORS, by WILLIAM ELLERY CHANNING (1817-1901)


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THE BARREN MOORS, by             Poem Explanation         Poet's Biography
First Line: On your bare rocks, o barren moors
Last Line: To stand between two silent floors.
Alternate Author Name(s): Channing Ii, William Ellery


ON your bare rocks, O barren moors,
On your bare rocks I love to lie! --
They stand like crags upon the shores,
Or clouds upon a placid sky.

Across those spaces desolate
The fox pursues his lonely way,
Those solitudes can fairly sate
The passage of my loneliest day.

Like desert islands far at sea
Where not a ship can ever land,
Those dim uncertainties to me
For something veritable stand.

A serious place distinct from all
Which busy Life delights to feel, --
I stand in this deserted hall,
And thus the wounds of time conceal.

No friend's cold eye, or sad delay,
Shall vex me now where not a sound
Falls on the ear, and every day
Is soft as silence most profound.

No more upon these distant worlds
The agitating world can come,
A single pensive thought upholds
The arches of this dreamy home.

Within the sky above, one thought
Replies to you, O barren moors!
Between, I stand, a creature taught
To stand between two silent floors.





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