Poetry Explorer- Classic Contemporary Poetry, INSCRIPTION SUPPOSED FOUND ... HERMIT'S CELL: 1, by WILLIAM WORDSWORTH


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Classic and Contemporary Poetry

INSCRIPTION SUPPOSED FOUND ... HERMIT'S CELL: 1, by                 Poet Analysis     Poet's Biography
First Line: Hopes what are they? - beads of morning
Last Line: That precedes the passing knell!


HOPES what are they? -- Beads of morning
Strung on slender blades of grass;
Or a spider's web adorning
In a strait and treacherous pass.
What are fears but voices airy?
Whispering harm where harm is not;
And deluding the unwary
Till the fatal bolt is shot!
What is glory? -- in the socket
See how dying tapers fare!
What is pride? -- a whizzing rocket
That would emulate a star.
What is friendship? -- do not trust her,
Nor the vows which she has made;
Diamonds dart their brightest lustre
From a palsy-shaken head.
What is truth? -- a staff rejected;
Duty? -- an unwelcome clog;
Joy? -- a moon by fits reflected
In a swamp or watery bog;
Bright, as if through ether steering,
To the Traveller's eye it shone:
He hath hailed it re-appearing --
And as quickly it is gone;
Such is Joy -- as quickly hidden,
Or mis-shapen to the sight,
And by sullen weeds forbidden
To resume its native light.
What is youth? -- a dancing billow,
(Winds behind, and rocks before!)
Age? -- a drooping, tottering willow
On a flat and lazy shore.
What is peace? -- when pain is over,
And love ceases to rebel,
Let the last faint sigh discover
That precedes the passing knell!





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