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Classic and Contemporary Poetry
THE SORROWFUL MASQUERADE, by JOHN HALL WHEELOCK Poet's Biography
First Line: Even as to a music, stately and sad
Last Line: She needs must cover up her face and weep.
Subject(s): Dancing & Dancers; Girls; Grief; Sorrow; Sadness
First Line: Even as to a music, stately and sad
Last Line: She needs must cover up her face and weep.
Subject(s): Dancing & Dancers; Girls; Grief; Sorrow; Sadness
Even as to a music, stately and sad,
The young girls' feet begin to move in a dance,
And curiously for joy shift and advance;
So to a mournful waltz, sombre and sweet;
All laughing things move with delighted feet,
So all things that draw light and laughing breath
Move to the mournful waltz of life and death.
Comedy is a girl dancing in time
To the tragic pipes, sorrowful and sublime;
And ever she laughs back, and as she skips
Mimics the mournful music with her lips;
Then for sheer anger at her own pretense
Sobs violently at her own vehemence,
And mocks her tears. But when the pipings sleep
She needs must cover up her face and weep.
Discover our Poem Explanations and Poet Analyses!
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AS THE SPARKS FLY UPWARDS by JOHN HOLLANDER
WHAT GREAT GRIEF HAS MADE THE EMPRESS MUTE by JUNE JORDAN
CHAMBER MUSIC: 19 by JAMES JOYCE
DIRGE AT THE END OF THE WOODS by LEONIE ADAMS
THE BLACK PANTHER by JOHN HALL WHEELOCK