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Classic and Contemporary Poetry
BALLADE OF THE UNATTAINABLE, by ANDREW LANG Poet Analysis Poet's Biography First Line: The books I cannot hope to buy | |||
The Books I cannot hope to buy, Their phantoms round me waltz and wheel; They pass before the dreaming eye, Ere sleep the dreaming eye can seal. A kind of literary reel They dance; how fair the bindings shine! Prose cannot tell them what I feel- The books that never can be mine! There frisk editions rare and shy, Morocco clad from head to heel; Shakespearian quartos; Comedy As first she flashed from Richard Steele; And quaint De Foe on Mrs. Veal; And, lord of landing net and line, Old Izaak with his fishing creel,- The books that never can be mine! Incunables! for you I sigh, Black letter, at thy founts I kneel; Old tales of Perrault's nursery, For you I'd go without a meal! For books wherein did Aldus deal And rare Galliot du Pré I pine. The watches of the night reveal The books that never can be mine! Envoy Prince, hear a hopeless bard's appeal; Reverse the rules of Mine and Thine; Make it legitimate to steal The books that never can be mine! | Discover our Poem Explanations and Poet Analyses!Other Poems of Interest...A SCOT TO JEANNE D'ARC by ANDREW LANG A VERY WOEFUL BALLADE OF THE ART CRITIC (TO E.A. ABBEY) by ANDREW LANG ALMAE MATRES (ST. ANDREWS, 1862; OXFORD, 1865) by ANDREW LANG BALLADE DEDICATORY TO MRS. ELTON OF WHITE STAUNTON by ANDREW LANG BALLADE OF CHRISTMAS GHOSTS by ANDREW LANG BALLADE OF CRICKET by ANDREW LANG |
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