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Classic and Contemporary Poetry
THE REWARD, by IVAN SWIFT First Line: What boots my will to guide a gilded tongue Last Line: And swing, a rattling vine, the autumn pyre above! Subject(s): Rewards | |||
WHAT boots my will to guide a gilded tongue — To hope, or send the plenteous days to find New magic lamps? My childish trumpets wind But faint along the walls whose stones have rung, In older days, with echoes nobler sung! But worth is this — my tender wreath — to bind Or yet adorn? — Antiquity has twined Her hempen bands the moss of years among. We quit the shodden world, ambition stung, And toy with vibrant shafts in the open blue — One with the careless cloud, nursed of dew! Upgathering sweets from ancient hills o'erflung, We bud and bloom, and reach the lips of Love! — And swing, a rattling vine, the autumn pyre above! | Discover our Poem Explanations and Poet Analyses!Other Poems of Interest...COMPENSATIONS by CHRISTOPHER BANNISTER COMPENSATION by ELIZABETH DOTEN REWARD AND PUNISHMENTS by ROBERT HERRICK FAME by FREDERIC ROWLAND MARVIN THE HERO OF RORKE'S DRIFT by WILLIAM MCGONAGALL THE REWARD OF SONG by ALFRED NOYES |
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