Poetry Explorer

Classic and Contemporary Poetry

BALLADE BY THE FIRE by EDWIN ARLINGTON ROBINSON

Poet Analysis

First Line: SLOWLY I SMOKE AND HUG MY KNEE
Last Line: AS ONE BY ONE THE PHANTOMS GO.
Slowly I smoke and hug my knee,
The while a witless masquerade
Of things that only children see
Floats in a mist of light and shade:
They pass, a flimsy cavalcade,
And with a weak, remindful glow,
The falling embers break and fade,
As one by one the phantoms go.




Home: PoetryExplorer.net