Poetry Explorer- Classic Contemporary Poetry, SONNET TO THE NIGHTINGALE, by ROBERT SOUTHEY


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SONNET TO THE NIGHTINGALE, by                 Poet Analysis     Poet's Biography
First Line: Sad songstress of the night, no more I hear
Last Line: No more responsive to the lay of love.
Subject(s): Birds; Grief; Love; Nightingales; Silence; Sorrow; Sadness


SAD songstress of the night, no more I hear
Thy soften'd warblings meet my pensive ear,
As by thy wonted haunts again I rove;
Why art thou silent? Wherefore sleeps thy lay?
For faintly fades the sinking orb of day,
And yet thy music charms no more the grove.
The shrill bat flutters by; from yon dark tower
The shrieking owlet hails the shadowy hour;
Hoarse hums the beetle as he drones along,
The hour of love is flown! thy full-fledg'd brood
No longer need thy care to cull their food,
And nothing now remains to prompt the song:
But drear and sullen seems the silent grove,
No more responsive to the lay of love.





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