Classic and Contemporary Poetry
THE MASQUE OF PANDORA: 8. IN THE GARDEN, by HENRY WADSWORTH LONGFELLOW Poet Analysis Poet's Biography First Line: The storm is past, but it hath left behind it Last Line: Kindled with nobler passions and desires. | ||||||||
EPIMETHEUS. The storm is past, but it hath left behind it Ruin and desolation. All the walks Are strewn with shattered boughs; the birds are silent; The flowers, downtrodden by the wind, lie dead; The swollen rivulet sobs with secret pain, The melancholy reeds whisper together As if some dreadful deed had been committed They dare not name, and all the air is heavy With an unspoken sorrow! Premonitions, Foreshadowings of some terrible disaster Oppress my heart. Ye Gods, avert the omen! PANDORA, coming from the house. O Epimetheus, I no longer dare To lift mine eyes to thine, nor hear thy voice, Being no longer worthy of thy love. EPIMETHEUS. What hast thou done? PANDORA. Forgive me not, but kill me. EPIMETHEUS. What hast thou done? PANDORA. I pray for death, not pardon. EPIMETHEUS. What hast thou done? PANDORA. I dare not speak of it. EPIMETHEUS. Thy pallor and thy silence terrify me! PANDORA. I have brought wrath and ruin on thy house! My heart hath braved the oracle that guarded The fatal secret from us, and my hand Lifted the lid of the mysterious chest! EPIMETHEUS. Then all is lost! I am indeed undone. PANDORA. I pray for punishment, and not for pardon. EPIMETHEUS. Mine is the fault not thine. On me shall fall The vengeance of the Gods, for I betrayed Their secret when, in evil hour, I said It was a secret; when, in evil hour, I left thee here alone to this temptation. Why did I leave thee? PANDORA. Why didst thou return? Eternal absence would have been to me The greatest punishment. To be left alone And face to face with my own crime, had been Just retribution. Upon me, ye Gods, Let all your vengeance fall! EPIMETHEUS. On thee and me. I do not love thee less for what is done, And cannot be undone. Thy very weakness Hath brought thee nearer to me, and henceforth My love will have a sense of pity in it, Making it less a worship than before. PANDORA. Pity me not; pity is degradation. Love me and kill me. EPIMETHEUS. Beautiful Pandora! Thou art a Goddess still! PANDORA. I am a woman; And the insurgent demon in my nature, That made me brave the oracle, revolts At pity and compassion. Let me die; What else remains for me? EPIMETHEUS. Youth, hope, and love: To build a new life on a ruined life, To make the future fairer than the past, And make the past appear a troubled dream. Even now in passing through the garden walks Upon the ground I saw a fallen nest Ruined and full of rain; and over me Beheld the uncomplaining birds already Busy in building a new habitation. PANDORA. Auspicious omen! EPIMETHEUS. May the Eumenides Put out their torches and behold us not, And fling away their whips of scorpions And touch us not. PANDORA. Me let them punish. Only through punishment of our evil deeds, Only through suffering, are we reconciled To the immortal Gods and to ourselves. CHORUS OF THE EUMENIDES. Never shall souls like these Escape the Eumenides, The daughters dark of Acheron and Night! Unquenched our torches glare, Our scourges in the air Send forth prophetic sounds before they smite. Never by lapse of time The soul defaced by crime Into its former self returns again; For every guilty deed Holds in itself the seed Of retribution and undying pain. Never shall be the loss Restored, till Helios Hath purified them with his heavenly fires; Then what was lost is won, And the new life begun, Kindled with nobler passions and desires. | Discover our Poem Explanations and Poet Analyses!Other Poems of Interest...A GLEAM OF SUNSHINE by HENRY WADSWORTH LONGFELLOW A PSALM OF LIFE by HENRY WADSWORTH LONGFELLOW BELISARIUS by HENRY WADSWORTH LONGFELLOW BURIAL OF THE MINNISINK by HENRY WADSWORTH LONGFELLOW CARILLON by HENRY WADSWORTH LONGFELLOW CATAWBA WINE by HENRY WADSWORTH LONGFELLOW CHANGED by HENRY WADSWORTH LONGFELLOW CHAUCER; SONNET by HENRY WADSWORTH LONGFELLOW CHRISTMAS BELLS by HENRY WADSWORTH LONGFELLOW CURFEW by HENRY WADSWORTH LONGFELLOW DAYBREAK by HENRY WADSWORTH LONGFELLOW DIVINA COMMEDIA (INTRODUCTORY POEMS): 1 by HENRY WADSWORTH LONGFELLOW |
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