|
|
|
Classic and Contemporary Poetry
THE MAN DIGGING, by HERBERT TRENCH Poet's Biography
First Line: The isle was barren. Far as hawk may scan
Last Line: "the thing on which I lean, the spade of doubt."
Subject(s): Digging & Diggers; Doubt; Islands
First Line: The isle was barren. Far as hawk may scan
Last Line: "the thing on which I lean, the spade of doubt."
Subject(s): Digging & Diggers; Doubt; Islands
THE isle was barren. Far as hawk may scan
In moors it roll'd up to a headland bare
Save for one narrow patch, by ceaseless care
Sumptuous with corn. Against the sky a Man
Digging the waste I saw, -- bow'd veteran
A stubborn spade he drave in stubborn ground
And root and rock flung sheer without a sound
Over the bleak edge. . . . Then anew began.
"You, who have lodged in the teeth of the abyss
Your cabin low, and triumph rich as this
Wrung from the ocean-bitter mountain-side,
What help'd you most to bring such treasure out?"
He stood, and after scrutiny replied,
"The thing on which I lean, the Spade of Doubt."
Discover our Poem Explanations and Poet Analyses!
Other Poems of Interest...
DECEPTION PASS; FOR JUDY AND MARK KAWASAKI by KAREN SWENSON
ON THIS ISLAND by WYSTAN HUGH AUDEN
GLADYS AND HER ISLAND; AN IMPERFECT TALE WITH DOUBTFUL MORAL by JEAN INGELOW
RAGGED ISLAND by EDNA ST. VINCENT MILLAY
SEALS AT HIGH ISLAND by RICHARD MURPHY
THE LAKE ISLE OF INNISFREE by WILLIAM BUTLER YEATS