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Classic and Contemporary Poetry
BOOKS & READING, by JOHN JAY CHAPMAN Poet Analysis
First Line: These journals, notes, and missives of the dead
Last Line: Save a small volume on the scholar's shelf.
Subject(s): Books; Poverty; Scholarship & Scholars; Reading
First Line: These journals, notes, and missives of the dead
Last Line: Save a small volume on the scholar's shelf.
Subject(s): Books; Poverty; Scholarship & Scholars; Reading
These journals, notes, and missives of the dead --
These poems of all ages -- form a kind
Of ever fresh ambrosia for the mind;
And we like half-gods, as it were, cloud-fed
On song and thought and parable, break bread
With all the wits and poets of mankind,
Who looked on life and left their souls behind
With ours immortally companioned.
Rather than honors, riches, and renown --
By heaven, I'd rather be like one of those! --
One who in thought so close enwrapped himself
As to live penniless and die unknown,
Leaving no record of his joys or woes,
Save a small volume on the scholar's shelf.
Discover our Poem Explanations and Poet Analyses!
Other Poems of Interest...
TWO SONNETS: 1 by DAVID LEHMAN
THE ILLUSTRATION?ÇÖA FOOTNOTE by DENISE LEVERTOV
FALLING ASLEEP OVER THE AENEID by ROBERT LOWELL
POETRY MACHINES by CATE MARVIN
LENDING LIBRARY by PHYLLIS MCGINLEY
EARLY SPRING by JOHN JAY CHAPMAN