Classic and Contemporary Poetry
FOR LIFE, by LEWIS MORRIS (1833-1907) Poet's Biography First Line: Shut in by self, as by a brazen wall Last Line: The captive breaks her thrall! Subject(s): Freedom; Liberty | ||||||||
SHUT in by self, as by a brazen wall, In a dry, windless court alone, Where no refreshing dews of eve may fall, Nor morning sun has shone. But ever broader, ever higher, higher, And ever yearly stronger grown, In long circuitous folds high towers aspire Around her central throne. And every year adds some fair outer-court, Green, lit with fountains, tended well, Some dainty pleasaunce fit for joy and sport, But not wherein to dwell. Or some high palace spired with freeted gold, And tricked with gems of thought and art; In blank perspective ranks its chambers cold, Too fair to touch the heart. For far within the inmost coil of towers, Wrapt round with shadows like a cloak, Where on the twilight hush of slow-paced hours Full utterance never broke; Neither of laughter nor the painful sound Of great thoughts come to sudden birth, Nor murmurs from the Sea that frets around The dull laborious earth; Nor voice of love or child, nor note of glee, Nor sigh, nor any weal nor woe -- Naught but a chill, at times, as hopelessly The slow years come and go; She broods immured, a devil or a saint, Shut fast within a lonely cell, Peopled with beatific visions faint, Or ghostly shapes of hell. And every year she hears from some high gate That breaks the dizzy circuit of the wall, By hands invisible, but strong as fate, The loud portcullis fall. And every year upon her duller ear Faint and more faint the outward echoes come, Fainter the mingled tones of hope and fear, To this her cloistered home. Till, when the weary circuit's done and past, The last gate clangs, the tall towers sway and fall, A great voice calls with thunders, and at last The captive breaks her thrall! | Discover our Poem Explanations and Poet Analyses!Other Poems of Interest...LOVE THE WILD SWAN by ROBINSON JEFFERS AFTER TENNYSON by AMBROSE BIERCE QUARTET IN F MAJOR by WILLIAM MEREDITH CROSS THAT LINE by NAOMI SHIHAB NYE EMANCIPATION by ELIZABETH ALEXANDER A CAROL by LEWIS MORRIS (1833-1907) |
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