Classic and Contemporary Poetry
UNEXPRESSED, by ADELAIDE ANNE PROCTER Poet's Biography First Line: Dwells within the soul of every artist Last Line: And waves of an unfathomable sea. Alternate Author Name(s): Berwick, Mary Subject(s): Art & Artists; Beauty; Love; Poetry & Poets; Soul; Time | ||||||||
DWELLS within the soul of every Artist More than all his effort can express; And he knows the best remains unuttered Sighing at what we call his success. Vainly he may strive; he dare not tell All the sacred mysteries of the skies; Vainly he may strive, the deepest beauty Cannot be unveiled to mortal eyes. And the more devoutly that he listens, And the holier message that is sent, Still the more his soul must struggle vainly Bowed beneath a noble discontent. No great Thinker ever lived and taught you All the wonder that his soul received; No true Painter ever set on canvas All the glorious vision he conceived. No Musician ever held your spirit Charmed and bound in his melodious chains, But be sure he heard, and strove to render Feeble echoes of celestial strains. No real Poet ever wove in numbers All his dream; but the diviner part, Hidden from all the world, spake to him only In the voiceless silence of his heart. So with Love: for Love and Art united Are twin mysteries; different, yet the same: Poor indeed would be the love of any Who could find its full and perfect name. Love may strive, but vain is the endeavor All its boundless riches to unfold; Still its tenderest, truest secret lingers Ever in its deepest depths untold. Things of Time have voices: speak and perish. Art and Love speak; but their words must be Like sighings of illimitable forests, And waves of an unfathomable sea. | Discover our Poem Explanations and Poet Analyses!Other Poems of Interest...ELEVEN EYES: FINAL SECTION by LYN HEJINIAN THE FATALIST: COME OCTOBER by LYN HEJINIAN THE FATALIST: HOME by LYN HEJINIAN THE FATALIST: TIME IS FILLED by LYN HEJINIAN SLOWLY: I FREQUENTLY SLOWLY WISH by LYN HEJINIAN ALL THE DIFFICULT HOURS AND MINUTES by JANE HIRSHFIELD A DAY IS VAST by JANE HIRSHFIELD FROM THIS HEIGHT by TONY HOAGLAND A DOUBTING HEART by ADELAIDE ANNE PROCTER |
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