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Classic and Contemporary Poetry


THE POET'S WISH by WILLIAM MOTHERWELL

Poet Analysis

First Line: O WOULD THAT IN SOME WILD AND WINDING GLEN
Last Line: I'D WED THEE, SOLITUDE, DEAR NATURE'S FIRST-BORN DAUGHTER!
Subject(s): SOLITUDE; LONELINESS;

O WOULD that in some wild and winding glen
Where human footstep ne'er did penetrate,
And from the haunts of base and selfish men
Remote, in dreamy loneness situate,
I had my dwelling: and within my ken
Nature desporting in fantastic form --
Asleep in green repose, and thundering in the storm!

Then mine should be a life of deep delight, --
Rare undulations of ecstatic musing;
Thoughts calm, yet ever-varying, stream bedight
With flowers immortal of quick Fancy's choosing --
And like unto the ray of tremulous light,
Blent by the pale moon with the entranced water,
I'd wed thee, Solitude, dear Nature's first-born daughter!



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