Classic and Contemporary Poetry
RIP VAN WINKLE'S LILAC, by HERMAN MELVILLE Poet Analysis Poet's Biography First Line: Ay, - no! - my brain is addled yet Last Line: Boon nature finds one -- heaven be blest! Subject(s): Flowers; Lilacs | ||||||||
"Ay, -- no! -- My brain is addled yet; With last night's flagons -- full I forget. But look. -- Well, well, it so must be, For there it is, and, sure, I see. Yon Lilac is all right, no doubt, Tho' never before, Rip -- spied him out! But where's the willow? -- Dear, dear me! This is the hill-side, -- sure; the stream Flows yon; and that, wife's house would seem But for the silence. Well, may be, For this one time -- Ha! do I see Those burdocks going in at door? They only loitered round before! No, -- ay! -- Bless me, it is the same! But yonder Lilac! how now came -- Rip, where does Rip van Winkle live? Lilac? -- a lilac? Why, just there, If my cracked memory don't deceive, 'Twas I set out a Lilac fair, Yesterday morning, seems to me. Yea, sure, that it might thrive and come To plead for me with wife, tho' dumb. I found it -- dear me -- well, well, well, Squirrels and angels they can tell! My head! -- whose head? -- Ah, Rip, (I'm Rip) That lilac was a little slip, And yonder lilac is a tree!" But why rehearse in every section The withered good-fellow's resurrection, Happily told by happiest Irving Never from genial verity swerving; And, more to make the story rife, By Jefferson acted true to life. Me here it but behooves to tell Of things that postumously fell. It came to pass as years went on (An Indian file in stealthy flight With purpose never man has known) A villa brave transformed the sight Of Rip's abode to nothing gone, Himself remanded into night. Each June the owner joyance found In one prized tree that held its ground, One tenant old where all was new, -- Rip's Lilac to its youth still true. Despite its slant ungainly trunk Atwist and black like strands in junk, Annual yet it flowered aloft In juvenile pink, complexion soft. That owner hale, long past his May, His children's children -- every one Like those Rip romped with in the sun -- Merrily plucked the clusters gay. The place a stranger scented out By Boniface told in vinous way -- "Follow the fragrance!" Truth to own Such reaching wafture ne'er was blown From common Lilac. Came about That neighbors, unconcerned before When bloomed the tree by lowly door, Craved now one little slip to train; Neighbor from neighbor begged again. On every hand stem shot from slip, Till, lo, that region now is dowered Like the first Paradise embowered, Thanks to the poor good-for-nothing Rip! Some think those parts should bear his name; But no -- the blossoms take the fame. Slant finger-posts by horsemen scanned Point the green miles -- To Lilac Land. Go ride there down one charmful lane, O reader mine, when June's at best, A dream of Rip shall slack the rein, For there his heart flowers out confessed. And there you'll say, -- O, hard ones, truce! See, where man finds in man no use, Boon Nature finds one -- Heaven be blest! | Discover our Poem Explanations and Poet Analyses!Other Poems of Interest...LILACS FOR GINSBERG by GERALD STERN LAST LOOKS AT THE LILACS by WALLACE STEVENS LILAC: FIRST EMOTIONS OF LOVE by ROBERT BURNS PRESIDENT LINCOLN'S BURIAL HYMN by WALT WHITMAN DESIGN OF WHITE LILACS by GRACE HAZARD CONKLING WITH LILACS by CHARLES HENRY CRANDALL OLD HOME by MABEL GOULD DEMERS FORMERLY A SLAVE' (AN IDEALIZED PORTRAIT, BY E. VEDDER) by HERMAN MELVILLE THE COMING STORM' (A PICTURE BY R. S. GIFFORD) by HERMAN MELVILLE A DIRGE FOR MCPHERSON; KILLED IN FRONT OF ATLANTA by HERMAN MELVILLE |
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