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Classic and Contemporary Poetry

LAUS MARIAE by SIDNEY LANIER

Poet Analysis

First Line: ACROSS THE BROOK OF TIME MAN LEAPING GOES
Last Line: BALTIMORE, 1874 - 5.
Subject(s): TIME;
ACROSS the brook of Time man leaping goes
On stepping-stones of epochs, that uprise
Fixed, memorable, midst broad shallow flows
Of neutrals, kill-times, sleeps, indifferencies.
So mixt each morn and night rise salient heaps:
Som cross with but a zigzag, jaded pace
From meal to meal: some with convulsive leaps
Shake the green tussocks of malign disgrace:
And some advance by system and deep art
O'er vantages of wealth, place, learning, tact.
But thou within thyself, dear manifold heart,
Dost bind all epochs in one dainty Fact.
Oh, sweet, my pretty sum of history,
I leapt the breadth of Time in loving thee!
BALTIMORE, 1874 - 5.



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