Poetry Explorer

Classic and Contemporary Poetry

TO A FAMOUS POET by ROBERT WHITAKER

First Line: WHY SO DEFIANT, GIFTED ONE, OF DEATH?
Last Line: THAN THE WARM HEARTHSIDE, AND THE OPEN DOOR?
Subject(s): POETRY & POETS; SONNET (AS LITERARY FORM);
Why so defiant, gifted one, of death?
Why so contemptuous that life is life?
So careless of the moment's tonic breath,
Wherewith the miracle of air is rife?
Why this impatience with the commonplace?
Which were it strange, then life were all awry.
The usual day, the harvest's level grace,
The household's homely task; why these deny?
Is there no glory in the multitude
Of gentle virtues, and of constant faith,
That genius must pose the dismal mood
Of waiting ever on a midnight wraith?
Is tragedy, or cynic scorn, the more
Than the warm hearthside, and the open door?



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