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Classic and Contemporary Poetry
EARLY CHRONOLOGY, by SIEGFRIED SASSOON Poet Analysis Poet's Biography First Line: Slowly the daylight left our listening faces Last Line: I thought she had a pre-dynastic look. Subject(s): Archeology; Teaching & Teachers | |||
SLOWLY the daylight left our listening faces. Professor Brown with level baritone Discoursed into the dusk. Five thousand years He guided us through scientific spaces Of excavated History; till the lone Roads of research grew blurred; and in our ears Time was the rumoured tongues of vanished races, And Thought a chartless Age of Ice and Stone. The story ended. Then the darkened air Flowered as he lit his pipe; an aureole glowed Enwreathed with smoke; the moment's match-light showed His rosy face, broad brow, and smooth grey hair, Backed by the crowded book-shelves. In his wake An archæologist began to make Assumptions about aqueducts (he quoted Professor Sandstorm's book); and soon they floated Through dessicated forests; mangled myths; And argued easily round megaliths. Beyond the college garden something glinted; A copper moon climbed clear above the trees. Some Lydian coin? ... Professor Brown agrees That copper coins were in that culture minted; But, as her whitening way aloft she took, I thought she had a pre-dynastic look. | Discover our Poem Explanations and Poet Analyses!Other Poems of Interest...THE CORRESPONDENCE-SCHOOL INSTRUCTOR SAYS GOODBYE TO HIS POETRY STUDENTS by GALWAY KINNELL GRATITUDE TO OLD TEACHERS by ROBERT BLY TWO RAMAGES FOR OLD MASTERS by ROBERT BLY OEDIPUS TYRANNUS by JOHN CIARDI ON FLUNKING A NICE BOY OUT OF SCHOOL by JOHN CIARDI HER MONOLOGUE OF DARK CREPE WITH EDGES OF LIGHT by NORMAN DUBIE |
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