Classic and Contemporary Poetry
THE SOWER, by JAMES RUSSELL LOWELL Poet Analysis Poet's Biography First Line: I saw a sower walking slow Last Line: "the happy days when I was young." Subject(s): Nostalgia | ||||||||
I SAW a Sower walking slow Across the earth, from east to west; His hair was white as mountain snow, His head drooped forward on his breast. With shrivelled hands he flung his seed, Nor ever turned to look behind; Of sight or sound he took no heed; It seemed he was both deaf and blind. His dim face showed no soul beneath, Yet in my heart I felt a stir, As if I looked upon the sheath That once had clasped Excalibur. I heard, as still the seed he cast, How, crooning to himself, he sung, "I sow again the holy Past, The happy days when I was young. "Then all was wheat without a tare, Then all was righteous, fair, and true; And I am he whose thoughtful care Shall plant the Old World in the New. "The fruitful germs I scatter free, With busy hand, while all men sleep; In Europe now, from sea to sea, The nations bless me as they reap." Then I looked back along his path, And heard the clash of steel on steel, Where man faced man, in deadly wrath, While clanged the tocsin's hurrying peal. The sky with burning towns flared red, Nearer the noise of fighting rolled, And brothers' blood, by brothers shed, Crept curdling over pavements cold. Then marked I how each germ of truth Which through the dotard's fingers ran Was mated with a dragon's tooth Whence there sprang up an armed man. I shouted, but he could not hear; Made signs, but these he could not see; And still, without a doubt or fear, Broadcast he scattered anarchy. Long to my straining ears the blast Brought faintly back the words he sung: "I sow again the holy Past, The happy days when I was young." | Discover our Poem Explanations and Poet Analyses!Other Poems of Interest...THE BELL FROM EUROPE by WELDON KEES THE STONE TABLE by GALWAY KINNELL LETTER TO MAXINE SULLIVAN by HAYDEN CARRUTH HANGING THE BLUE NUNS; FOR WARREN CARRIER by MADELINE DEFREES OF POLITICS, & ART by NORMAN DUBIE MY SISTER LIKED THE POSTCARD OF SNOW by ANSELM HOLLO THE PLAYER PIANO by RANDALL JARRELL AFTER THE BURIAL by JAMES RUSSELL LOWELL |
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