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Classic and Contemporary Poetry
THE COFFIN, by HEINRICH HEINE Poet's Biography
First Line: The songs, so old and bitter
Last Line: And my too heavy care.
Subject(s): Coffins
First Line: The songs, so old and bitter
Last Line: And my too heavy care.
Subject(s): Coffins
The songs, so old and bitter,
The dreams so wild and drear,
Let's bury them together --
What ho! A coffin here!
I have so much to bury
It never will be done,
Unless the coffin's larger
Than Heidelberg's great Tun.
And bring a bier to match it
Of stoutest oaks and pines;
It must be even longer
Than the long bridge at Mainz.
And also bring twelve giants
Of mightier brawn and bone
Than Christopher, the sainted,
Whose shrine is in Cologne.
And in the great sea sink it
Beneath the proudest wave;
For such a mighty coffin
Should have a mighty grave. . .
You know what makes my coffin
So great, so hard to bear?
It holds my love within it,
And my too heavy care.
Discover our Poem Explanations and Poet Analyses!
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A BOX COMES HOME by JOHN CIARDI
FIRST COFFIN POEM by DAVID IGNATOW
ESTATE SALE: THE SCRABBLE GAME OF A DEAD WOMAN by NAOMI SHIHAB NYE
FOR THE DUE IMPROVEMENT OF A FUNERAL SOLEMNITY by JOHN BYROM
TOWARDS DEMOCRACY: PART 3. INSCRIBED ON A MUMMY CASE, BRITISH MUSEUM by EDWARD CARPENTER
LAZARUS by EDWARD RALPH CHEYNEY
SUNSHINE: A THOUGHT by ELIZA COOK
RATTLIN' JOE'S PRAYER by JOHN WALLACE CRAWFORD