Poetry Explorer- Classic Contemporary Poetry, THE GREAT VIEW, by FORD MADOX FORD


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Classic and Contemporary Poetry

THE GREAT VIEW, by                     Poet's Biography
First Line: Up here, where the air's very clear
Last Line: There is france.
Alternate Author Name(s): Hueffer, Ford Hermann; Hueffer, Ford Madox
Subject(s): Beauty; France; Nature


UP here, where the air's very clear
And the hills slope away nigh down to the bay,
It is very like Heaven ...

For the sea's wine-purple and lies half asleep
In the sickle of the shore and, serene in the west,
Lion-like purple and brooding in the even,
Low hills lure the sun to rest.

Very like Heaven. ... For the vast marsh dozes,
And waving plough-lands and willowy closes
Creep and creep up the soft south steep;
In the pallid North the grey and ghostly downs do fold away.
And, spinning spider-threadlets down the sea, the sea-lights dance
And shake out a wavering radiance.

Very like Heaven. ... For a shimmering of pink.
East, far east, past the sea-lights' distant blink,
Like a cloud shell-pink, like the ear of a girl,
Like Venice-glass mirroring mother-o'-pearl,
Like the small pink nails of my lovely lady's fingers,
Where the skies drink the sea and the last light lies and lingers,
There is France.





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