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Classic and Contemporary Poetry
IN A LIBRARY: 1, by CHRISTOPHER PEARSE CRANCH Poet's Biography
First Line: In my friend's library I sit alone
Last Line: And adds a soul they own not of themselves.
Subject(s): Librarians & Libraries; Library; Librarians
First Line: In my friend's library I sit alone
Last Line: And adds a soul they own not of themselves.
Subject(s): Librarians & Libraries; Library; Librarians
IN my friend's library I sit alone,
Hemmed in by books. The dead and living there,
Shrined in a thousand volumes rich and rare,
Tower in long rows, with names to me unknown.
A dim half-curtained light o'er all is thrown.
A shadowed Dante looks with stony stare
Out from his dusky niche. The very air
Seems hushed before some intellectual throne.
What ranks of grand philosophers, what choice
And gay romancers, what historians sage,
What wits, what poets, on those crowded shelves!
All dumb forever, till the mind gives voice
To each dead letter of each senseless page,
And adds a soul they own not of themselves.
Discover our Poem Explanations and Poet Analyses!
Other Poems of Interest...
THE FATHER OF PREDICAMENTS by HEATHER MCHUGH
HER MONOLOGUE OF DARK CREPE WITH EDGES OF LIGHT by NORMAN DUBIE
LOVE POEM FOR THE FORTY-SECOND STREET LIBRARY by DAVID IGNATOW
THE LIBRARIAN by PETER JOHNSON
BECAUSE OF LIBRARIES WE CAN SAY THESE THINGS by NAOMI SHIHAB NYE
IN THE READING ROOM by DAVID FERRY
CORRESPONDENCES; HEXAMETERS AND PENTAMETERS by CHRISTOPHER PEARSE CRANCH