Classic and Contemporary Poetry
TO ALEX. SMITH, THE 'GLASGOW POET' ON HIS SONNET TO 'FAME', by GEORGE MEREDITH Poet Analysis Poet's Biography First Line: Not vainly doth the earnest voice of man Last Line: The mighty warning of a poet's birth. Subject(s): Fame; Poetry & Poets; Smith, Alexander (1830-1867); Reputation | ||||||||
Not vainly doth the earnest voice of man Call for the thing that is his pure desire! Fame is the birthright of the living lyre! To noble impulse Nature puts no ban. Nor vainly to the Sphinx thy voice was raised! Tho' all thy great emotions like a sea, Against her stony immortality, Shatter themselves unheeded and amazed. Time moves behind her in a blind eclipse: Yet if in her cold eyes the end of all Be visible, as on her large closed lips Hangs dumb the awful riddle of the earth; -- She sees, and she might speak, since that wild call, The mighty warning of a Poet's birth. | Discover our Poem Explanations and Poet Analyses!Other Poems of Interest...THEM AND US by LUCILLE CLIFTON A MAN TO A WOMAN by WILLIAM CARLOS WILLIAMS DEATH AND FAME by ALLEN GINSBERG EARTH'S IMMORTALITIES: FAME by ROBERT BROWNING STANZAS WRITTEN ON THE ROAD BETWEEN FLORENCE AND PISA by GEORGE GORDON BYRON PROVIDE, PROVIDE by ROBERT FROST DIRGE IN WOODS by GEORGE MEREDITH |
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