Classic and Contemporary Poetry
PHILOMEL IN LONDON, by EDMUND WILLIAM GOSSE Poet's Biography First Line: Not within a granite pass Last Line: Bound for purer woods and skies. Subject(s): London | ||||||||
NOT within a granite pass, Dim with flowers and soft with grass -- Nay, but doubly, trebly sweet In a poplared London street, While below my windows go Noiseless barges, to and fro, Through the night's calm deep, Ah! what breaks the bonds of sleep? No steps on the pavement fall, Soundless swings the dark canal; From a church-tower out of sight Clangs the central hour of night. Hark! the Dorian nightingale! Pan's voice melted to a wail! Such another bird Attic Tereus never heard. Hung above the gloom and stain -- London's squalid cope of pain -- Pure as starlight, bold as love, Honouring our scant poplar-grove, That most heavenly voice of earth Thrills in passion, grief or mirth, Laves our poison'd air, Life's best song-bath crystal-fair. While the starry minstrel sings Little matters what he brings, Be it sorrow, be it pain; Let him sing and sing again, Till, with dawn, poor souls rejoice, Wakening, once to hear his voice, Ere afar he flies, Bound for purer woods and skies. | Discover our Poem Explanations and Poet Analyses!Other Poems of Interest...THE WHARF ON THAMES-SIDE: WINTER DAWN by LAURENCE BINYON THE IDLER'S CALENDAR: MAY. THE LONDON SEASON by WILFRID SCAWEN BLUNT A LONDON THOROUGHFARE, 2 A.M. by AMY LOWELL SPRING WIND IN LONDON by KATHERINE MANSFIELD A BALLAD OF WHITECHAPEL by ISAAC ROSENBERG LONDON, FR. SONGS OF EXPERIENCE by WILLIAM BLAKE FEBRUARY IN ROME by EDMUND WILLIAM GOSSE |
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