Poetry Explorer- Classic Contemporary Poetry, SONNET: 25, by JAMES RUSSELL LOWELL


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Classic and Contemporary Poetry

SONNET: 25, by                 Poet Analysis     Poet's Biography
First Line: I grieve not that ripe knowledge takes away
Last Line: The presence of some wondrous heavenliness.


I GRIEVE not that ripe Knowledge takes away
The charm that Nature to my childhood wore,
For, with that insight, cometh, day by day,
A greater bliss than wonder was before;
The real doth not clip the poet's wings, --
To win the secret of a weed's plain heart
Reveals some clew to spiritual things,
And stumbling guess becomes firm-footed art:
Flowers are not flowers unto the poet's eyes,
Their beauty thrills him by an inward sense;
He knows that outward seemings are but lies,
Or, at the most, but earthly shadows, whence
The soul that looks within for truth may guess
The presence of some wondrous heavenliness.





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