Classic and Contemporary Poetry
THE FAMILY NAME, by CHARLES LAMB Poet's Biography First Line: What reason first imposed thee, gentle name Last Line: No deed of mine shall shame thee, gentle name. Alternate Author Name(s): Elia Subject(s): Ancestors & Ancestry; Names; Heritage; Heredity | ||||||||
What reason first imposed thee, gentle name, Name that my father bore, and his sire's sire, Without reproach? we trace our stream no higher; And I, a childless man, may end the same. Perchance some shepherd on Lincolnian plains, In manners guileless as his own sweet flocks, Received thee first amid the merry mocks And arch allusions of his fellow swains. Perchance from Salem's holier fields returned, With glory gotten on the heads abhorred Of faithless Saracens, some martial lord Took his meek title, in whose zeal he burned. Whate'er the fount whence thy beginnings came, No deed of mine shall shame thee, gentle name. | Discover our Poem Explanations and Poet Analyses!Other Poems of Interest...CRESCENT MOON ON A CAT?ÇÖS COLLAR by JUAN FELIPE HERRERA DOCKERY AND SON by PHILIP LARKIN GENEALOGY OF FIRE by KHALED MATTAWA EAST OF CARTHAGE: AN IDYLL by KHALED MATTAWA FOR AL-TAYIB SALIH by KHALED MATTAWA HISTORY OF MY FACE by KHALED MATTAWA BEGINNING WITH 1914 by LISEL MUELLER AN AMERICAN POEM by EILEEN MYLES TO THE DIASPORA: YOU DID NOT KNOW YOU WERE AFRIKA by GWENDOLYN BROOKS A FAREWELL TO TOBACCO by CHARLES LAMB |
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