Classic and Contemporary Poetry
THE CITY AND THE SEA, by EMILY PAULINE JOHNSON Poet's Biography First Line: To none the city bends a servile knee Last Line: But her sweet soul is god's. Alternate Author Name(s): Tekahionwake Subject(s): Cities; God; Mankind; Sea; Urban Life; Human Race; Ocean | ||||||||
I TO NONE the city bends a servile knee; Purse-proud and scornful, on her heights she stands, And at her feet the great white moaning sea Shoulders incessantly the grey-gold sands, One the Almighty's child since time began, And one the might of Mammon, born of clods; For all the city is the work of man, But all the sea is God's. II And shebetween the ocean and the town Lies cursed of one and by the other blest: Her staring eyes, her long drenched hair, her gown, Sea-laved and soiled and dank above her breast. She, image of her God since life began, She, but the child of Mammon, born of clods, Her broken body spoiled and spurned of man, But her sweet soul is God's. | 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 A CRY FROM AN INDIAN WIFE by EMILY PAULINE JOHNSON |
|