Classic and Contemporary Poetry
THE IDEALIST, by ROBERT WILLIAM SERVICE Poet Analysis Poet's Biography First Line: Oh you who have daring deeds to tell! Last Line: "for I've lived in the head of a queen!" Subject(s): Idealism | ||||||||
Oh you who have daring deeds to tell! And you who have felt Ambition's spell! Have you heard of the louse who longed to dwell In the golden hair of a queen? He sighed all day and he sighed all night, And no one could understand it quite, For the head of a slut is a louse's delight, But he pined for the head of a queen. So he left his kinsfolk in merry play, And off by his lonesome he stole away, From the home of his youth so bright and gay, And gloriously unclean. And at last he came to the palace gate, And he made his way in a manner straight (For a louse may go where a man must wait) To the tiring-room of the queen. The queen she spake to her tiring-maid: "There's something the matter, I'm afraid. To-night ere for sleep my hair ye braid, Just see what may be seen." And lo, when they combed that shining hair They found him alone in his glory there, And he cried: "I die, but I do not care, For I've lived in the head of a queen!" | Discover our Poem Explanations and Poet Analyses!Other Poems of Interest...TWO STUDIES IN IDEALISM: 2. HARVARD '61: BATTLE FATIGUE by ROBERT PENN WARREN TO A FRIEND, WITH A VOLUME OF VERSES by MATHILDE BLIND VERSES ON DANGER OF ATTACHING WRONG IDEAS TO WORDS OR EPITHETS by JOHN BYROM PHI BETA KAPPA POEM; HARVARD, 1914 by BLISS CARMAN IDEALISM by RALPH WALDO EMERSON IDEALISTS by ALFRED FRANCIS KREYMBORG LETTER TO A PURIST by SYLVIA PLATH AN IDEALIST by CALE YOUNG RICE CLANCY OF THE MOUNTED POLICE by ROBERT WILLIAM SERVICE |
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