Poetry Explorer- Classic Contemporary Poetry, THOMAS BAILEY ALDRICH, by WILLIAM DEAN HOWELLS


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Classic and Contemporary Poetry

THOMAS BAILEY ALDRICH, by             Poem Explanation         Poet's Biography
First Line: Not here, where that quick, subtle spirit of his
Last Line: He hospitably waits and bids us come.
Alternate Author Name(s): Howells, W. D.
Subject(s): Aldrich, Thomas Bailey (1836-1907); Novels & Novelists; Poetry & Poets


Not here, where that quick, subtle spirit of his
With many a smile and many a nodded jest
Seemed to escape us when we praised our best,
Could he be wholly what he was and is.
But in the simple house where once he dwelt,
Amidst the old fashioned Portsmouth neighborhood
In days when all of life was glad and good,
He will be willing to be known and felt;
A soul attuned to music, and a mind
Mystically vowed to beauty, in an art
That tirelessly upon itself refined:
Less of the school than of the poet heart,
There in his earliest and his latest home
He hospitably waits and bids us come.





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