Poetry Explorer- Classic Contemporary Poetry, THE EPIC OF THE AGE: 2. THE THEME OF THE UNWRITTEN POEM, by WILLIAM STEWARD GORDON


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Classic and Contemporary Poetry

THE EPIC OF THE AGE: 2. THE THEME OF THE UNWRITTEN POEM, by                    
First Line: No theme, no poet, and no audience'
Last Line: The pulsing passions of a list'ning world?
Subject(s): Poetry & Poets


"No theme, no poet, and no audience"
Seems echoing from a thousand critic throats!
And yet methinks the muses are not dead,
And theme sublime as ever stirred the soul
Awaits the master touch of genius.
Has beauty faded or has love grown cold?
Were "Isles of Greece" more fair than Nippon Land
That smiles like child awakened from its sleep?
Or Homer's horde more brave than Saxon blood?
Ulysses than the hero of Manila Bay?
Are there not "Holy Grails" of truth to seek,
And "Troys" of wrong full worthy of thy steel?
For ample action of heroic type
Could grander stage be built across the dome
Of heaven itself than Lick reveals to us?
Has't all been told? The earth a threadbare tale?
Did e'er the wond'ring eyes of Virgil see,
E'en in his wildest dream, such fleets superb
Of floating palaces as we behold?
What more adventurous land than that which sleeps
White-robed beneath Boreas' shimmering light
Where unknown Yukons roll o'er beds of gold?
Is this not food for poets or for gods?
Is one purblind, and ignorant of what
Comprises art, who calls it rich romance?
Is there no rhythm in the iron horse
That gallops o'er the continents, and trails
His meteoric splendor through the night,
While wireless wizards bear on ether wings
The pulsing passions of a list'ning world?





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