Classic and Contemporary Poetry
THE HURRICANE, by PHILIP FRENEAU Poet Analysis Poet's Biography First Line: Happy the man who, safe on shore Last Line: And ruin is the lot of all. Subject(s): Hurricanes; Sea; Ocean | ||||||||
Happy the man who, safe on shore, Now trims, at home, his evening fire; Unmov'd, he hears the tempests roar, That on the tufted groves expire: Alas! on us they doubly fall, Our feeble barque must bear them all. Now to their haunts the birds retreat, The squirrel seeks his hollow tree, Wolves in their shaded caverns meet, All, all are blest but wretched we -- Foredoomed a stranger to repose, No rest the unsettled ocean knows. While o'er the dark abyss we roam, Perhaps, with last departing gleam, We saw the sun descend in gloom, No more to see his morning beam; But buried low, by far too deep, On coral beds, unpitied, sleep! But what a strange, uncoasted strand Is that, where fate permits no day -- No charts have we to mark that land, No compass to direct that way -- What Pilot shall explore that realm, What new Columbus take the helm! While death and darkness both surround, And tempests rage with lawless power, Of friendship's voice I hear no sound, No comfort in this dreadful hour -- What friendship can in tempests be, What comfort on his raging sea? The barque, accustomed to obey, No more the trembling pilots guide: Alone she gropes her trackless way, While mountains burst on either side -- Thus, skill and science both must fall; And ruin is the lot of all. | Discover our Poem Explanations and Poet Analyses!Other Poems of Interest...HALL OF OCEAN LIFE by JOHN HOLLANDER JULY FOURTH BY THE OCEAN by ROBINSON JEFFERS BOATS IN A FOG by ROBINSON JEFFERS CONTINENT'S END by ROBINSON JEFFERS THE FIGUREHEAD by LEONIE ADAMS AN ANCIENT PROPHECY by PHILIP FRENEAU |
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