Poetry Explorer- Classic Contemporary Poetry, A DOUBLE-BARRELLED SONNET TO MARK TWAIN: 1. FIRST BARREL, by WILLIAM DEAN HOWELLS


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Classic and Contemporary Poetry

A DOUBLE-BARRELLED SONNET TO MARK TWAIN: 1. FIRST BARREL, by             Poem Explanation         Poet's Biography
First Line: The man whose birthday we renown tonight
Last Line: Gainsay him the glory of being sixty-seven.
Alternate Author Name(s): Howells, W. D.
Subject(s): Birthdays; Twain, Mark (samuel Langhorne Clemens)


The man whose birthday we renown tonight
Unites all heads and hearts in one acclaim
As never any other "heir of fame":
The missionary may not love him quite,
The imperialist may not think him wholly right.
The predatory cabman free from blame,
The moralist consider it the same
To teach by joke as with a text in sight.
Some as a scientist may not prize him much;
Some may deny him the true lyric leaven
As poet; some the fine old Bewick touch
As wood engraver; but none under heaven,
Of all his critics, or those who pose as such,
Gainsay him the glory of being sixty-seven.





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