Poetry Explorer- Classic Contemporary Poetry, THE STRANGER (3), by WALTER JOHN DE LA MARE



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THE STRANGER (3), by                 Poet Analysis     Poet's Biography
First Line: In the nook of a wood where a pool freshed with dew
Last Line: Unhumanly lovely. . . And supped in that place.
Alternate Author Name(s): Ramal, Walter; De La Mare, Walter


In the nook of a wood where a pool freshed with dew
Glassed, daybreak till evening, blue sky glimpsing through,
Then a star; or a slip of May-noon silver-white
Thridding softly aloof the quiet of night,
Was a thicket of flowers.

Willow-herb, mint, pale speedwell and rattle,
Water hemlock and sundew -- to the wind's tittle-tattle
They nodded, dreamed, swayed in jocund delight,
In beauty and sweetness arrayed, still and bright.
By turn scampered rabbit; trotted fox; bee and bird
Paused droning, sang shrill, and the fair water stirred.
Plashed green frog, or some brisk little flickering fish --
Gudgeon, stickleback, minnow -- set the ripples a-swish.

A lone pool, a pool grass-fringed, crystal-clear:
Deep, placid, and cool in the sweet of the year;
Edge-parched when the sun to the Dog Days drew near;
And with winter's bleak rime hard as glass, robed in snow,
The whole wild-wood sleeping, and nothing a-blow
But the wind from the North -- bringing snow.

That is all. Save that one long, sweet, June night-tide straying,
The harsh hemlock's pale umbelliferous bloom
Tenting nook, dense with fragrance and secret with gloom,
In a beaming of moon-coloured light faintly raying,
On buds orbed with dew phosphorescently playing,
Came a Stranger -- still-footed, feat-fingered, clear face,
Unhumanly lovely. . . and supped in that place.





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