Poetry Explorer- Classic Contemporary Poetry, CHIMES, by HENRY WADSWORTH LONGFELLOW



Poetry Explorer

Classic and Contemporary Poetry

CHIMES, by                 Poet Analysis     Poet's Biography
First Line: Sweet chimes! That in the loneliness of night
Last Line: On the great sea beneath a sinking keel.
Subject(s): Bells


Sweet chimes! that in the loneliness of night
Salute the passing hour, and in the dark
And silent chambers of the household mark
The movements of the myriad orbs of light!
Through my closed eyelids, by the inner sight,
I see the constellations in the arc
Of their great circles moving on, and hark!
I almost hear them singing in their flight.
Better than sleep it is to lie awake
O'er-canopied by the vast starry dome
Of the immeasurable sky; to feel
The slumbering world sink under us, and make
Hardly an eddy,--a mere rush of foam
On the great sea beneath a sinking keel.





Discover our Poem Explanations and Poet Analyses!


Other Poems of Interest...



Home: PoetryExplorer.net