Classic and Contemporary Poetry
TO A POET THAT DIED YOUNG, by EDNA ST. VINCENT MILLAY Poet Analysis Poet's Biography First Line: Minstrel, what have you to do Last Line: Had withstood it to grow old? Alternate Author Name(s): Boyd, Nancy; Boissevain, Eugen, Mrs. Subject(s): Death; Poetry & Poets; Tennyson, Alfred (1809-1892); Dead, The; Tennyson, Alfred Tennyson, 1st Baron | ||||||||
MINSTREL, what have you to do With this man that, after you, Sharing not your happy fate, Sat as England's Laureate? Vainly, in these iron days, Strives the poet in your praise, Minstrel, by whose singing side Beauty walked, until you died. Still, though none should hark again, Drones the blue-fly in the pane, Thickly crusts the blackest moss, Blows the rose its musk across, Floats the boat that is forgot None the less to Camelot. Many a bard's untimely death Lends unto his verses breath; Here's a song was never sung: Growing old is dying young. Minstrel, what is this to you: That a man you never knew, When your grave was far and green, Sat and gossipped with a queen? Thalia knows how rare a thing Is it, to grow old and sing; When a brown and tepid tide Closes in on every side. Who shall say if Shelley's gold Had withstood it to grow old? | Discover our Poem Explanations and Poet Analyses!Other Poems of Interest...THE CHARGE OF THE BREAD BRIGADE by EZRA POUND TO ALFRED TENNYSON by WALTER SAVAGE LANDOR WAPENTAKE; TO ALFRED TENNYSON by HENRY WADSWORTH LONGFELLOW THE LAY OF THE LOVELORN; PARODY OF TENNYSON'S 'LOCKSLEY HALL' by THEODORE MARTIN FACADE: 27. WHEN SIR BEELZEBUB by EDITH SITWELL THE HIGHER PANTHEISM IN A NUTSHELL by ALGERNON CHARLES SWINBURNE AFTERNOON ON A HILL by EDNA ST. VINCENT MILLAY |
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