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Classic and Contemporary Poetry
THE MAD MONK, by SAMUEL TAYLOR COLERIDGE Poet Analysis Poet's Biography First Line: I heard a voice from etna's side Last Line: Down thro' the forest I pursu'd my way. | |||
I heard a voice from Etna's side, Where o'er a cavern's mouth That fronted to the south A chesnut spread its umbrage wide: A hermit or a monk the man might be; But him I could not see: And thus the music flow'd along, In melody most like to old Sicilian song: 'There was a time when earth, and sea, and skies, The bright green vale, and forest's dark recess, With all things, lay before mine eyes In steady loveliness: But now I feel, on earth's uneasy scene, Such sorrows as will never cease; -- I only ask for peace; If I must live to know that such a time has been!' A silence then ensued: Till from the cavern came A voice; -- it was the same! And thus, in mournful tone, its dreary plaint renew'd: 'Last night, as o'er the sloping turf I trod, The smooth green turf, to me a vision gave Beneath mine eyes, the sod -- The roof of Rosa's grave! 'My heart has need with dreams like these to strive, For, when I woke, beneath mine eyes I found The plot of mossy ground, On which we oft have sat when Rosa was alive. -- Why must the rock, and margin of the flood, Why must the hills so many flow'rets bear, Whose colours to a murder'd maiden's blood, Such sad resemblance wear? -- 'I struck the wound, -- this hand of mine! For Oh, thou maid divine, I lov'd to agony! The youth whom thou call'd'st thine Did never love like me! 'Is it the stormy clouds above That flash'd so red a gleam? On yonder downward trickling stream? -- 'Tis not the blood of her I love. -- The sun torments me from his western bed, Oh, let him cease for ever to diffuse Those crimson spectre hues! Oh, let me lie in peace, and be for ever dead!' Here ceas'd the voice. In deep dismay, Down thro' the forest I pursu'd my way. | Discover our Poem Explanations and Poet Analyses!Other Poems of Interest...A DAY DREAM by SAMUEL TAYLOR COLERIDGE A THOUGHT SUGGESTED BY A VIEW, OF SADDLEBACK IN CUMBERLAND by SAMUEL TAYLOR COLERIDGE AN INVOCATION; SONG, FR. REMORSE by SAMUEL TAYLOR COLERIDGE AN ODE TO THE RAIN by SAMUEL TAYLOR COLERIDGE ANSWER TO A CHILD'S QUESTION by SAMUEL TAYLOR COLERIDGE APOLOGIA PRO VITA SUA by SAMUEL TAYLOR COLERIDGE COLOGNE; EPIGRAM by SAMUEL TAYLOR COLERIDGE DEJECTION: AN ODE by SAMUEL TAYLOR COLERIDGE DUTY SURVIVING SELF-LOVE; THE ONLY SURE FRIEND OF DECLINING LIFE by SAMUEL TAYLOR COLERIDGE EPITAPH ON HIMSELF by SAMUEL TAYLOR COLERIDGE FANCY IN NUBIBUS; OR, THE POET IN THE CLOUDS by SAMUEL TAYLOR COLERIDGE |
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