Classic and Contemporary Poetry
THE ISLE OF LONE, by WALTER JOHN DE LA MARE Poet Analysis Poet's Biography First Line: Three dwarfs there were which lived in an isle Last Line: For thee, o muziomone! Alternate Author Name(s): Ramal, Walter; De La Mare, Walter | ||||||||
Three dwarfs there were which lived in an isle, And the name of that isle was Lone, And the names of the dwarfs were Alliolyle, Lallerie, Muziomone. Their house was small and sweet of the sea, And pale as the Malmsey wine; Their bowls were three, and their beds were three, And their nightcaps white were nine. Their beds they were made of the holly-wood, Their combs of the tortoise-shell, Three basins of silver in corners there stood, And three little ewers as well. Green rushes, green rushes lay thick on the floor, For light beamed a gobbet of wax; There were three wooden stools for whatever they wore On their humpity-dumpity backs. So each would lie on a drowsy pillow And watch the moon in the sky -- And hear the parrot scream to the billow, And the billow roar reply. Parrots of sapphire and sulphur and amber, Amethyst, azure and green, While apes in the palm trees would scramble and clamber, Hairy and hungry and lean. All night long with bubbles a-glisten The ocean cried under the moon, Till ape and parrot too sleepy to listen To sleep and slumber were gone. Then from three small beds the dark hours' while In a house in the Island of Lone Rose the snoring of Lallerie, Alliolyle, The snoring of Muziomone. But soon as ever came peep of sun On coral and feathery tree, Three night-capped dwarfs to the surf would run And soon were a-bob in the sea. At six they went fishing, at nine to snare Young foxes in the dells, At noon in the shade on sweet fruits they would fare, And blew in their twisted shells. Dark was the sea they gambolled in, And thick with silver fish, Dark as green glass blown clear and thin To be a monarch's dish. They sate to sup in a jasmine bower, Lit pale with flies of fire, Their bowls the hue of the iris-flower, And lemon their attire. Sweet wine in little cups they sipped, And golden honeycomb Into their bowls of cream they dipped, Whipt light and white as foam. Now Alliolyle where the sand-flower blows Taught three old apes to sing -- Taught three old apes to dance on their toes And caper around in a ring. They yelled them hoarse and they croaked them sweet, They twirled them about and around, To the noise of their voices they danced with their feet, They stamped with their feet on the ground. But down to the shore skipped Lallerie, His parrot on his thumb, And the twain they scritched in mockery, While the dancers go and come. And, alas! in the evening, rosy and still, Light-haired Lallerie Bitterly quarrelled with Alliolyle By the yellow-sanded sea. The rising moon swam sweet and large Before their furious eyes, And they rolled and rolled to the coral marge Where the surf for ever cries. Too late, too late, comes Muziomone: Clear in the clear green sea Alliolyle lies not alone, But clasped with Lallerie. He blows on his shell low plaintive notes; Ape, perequito, bee Flock where a shoe on the salt wave floats, -- The shoe of Lallerie. He fetches nightcaps, one and nine, Grey apes he dowers three, His house as fair as the Malmsey wine Seems sad as the cypress-tree. Three bowls he brims with sweet honeycomb To feast the bumble-bees, Saying, 'O bees, be this your home, For grief is on the seas!' He sate him down in a coral grot, At the flowing in of the tide; When ebbed the billow, there was not, Save coral, aught beside. So hairy apes in three white beds, And nightcaps, one and nine, On moonlit pillows lay three heads Bemused with dwarfish wine. A tomb of coral, the dirge of bee, The grey apes' guttural groan For Alliolyle, for Lallerie, For thee, O Muziomone! | Discover our Poem Explanations and Poet Analyses!Other Poems of Interest...ALONE (2) by WALTER JOHN DE LA MARE AN EPITAPH by WALTER JOHN DE LA MARE ARABIA by WALTER JOHN DE LA MARE BUNCHES OF GRAPES by WALTER JOHN DE LA MARE ECHO by WALTER JOHN DE LA MARE ENGLAND (2) by WALTER JOHN DE LA MARE FARE WELL by WALTER JOHN DE LA MARE FIVE EYES by WALTER JOHN DE LA MARE JOHN MOULDY by WALTER JOHN DE LA MARE MOTLEY by WALTER JOHN DE LA MARE |
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