Classic and Contemporary Poetry
THE TOMB OF SOPHOCLES, by EDMUND WILLIAM GOSSE Poet's Biography First Line: A bounding satyr, golden in the beard Last Line: Nor sees the sun wheel round in the white dome. Subject(s): Graves; Sophocles (496-406 B.c.); Tombs; Tombstones | ||||||||
A BOUNDING satyr, golden in the beard, That leaps with goat-feet high into the air, And crushes from the thyme an odour rare, Keeps watch around the marble tomb revered Of Sophocles, the poet loved and feared, Whose sovereign voice once called out of her lair The Dorian muse severe, with braided hair, Who loved the thyrsus and wild dances weird. Here all day long the pious bees can pour Libations of their honey; round this tomb The Dionysiac ivy loves to roam: The satyr laughs; but He awakes no more, Wrapped up in silence at the grave's cold core, Nor sees the sun wheel round in the white dome. | Discover our Poem Explanations and Poet Analyses!Other Poems of Interest...THE SURVIVOR AMONG GRAVES by RANDALL JARRELL SUBJECTED EARTH by ROBINSON JEFFERS THE GRAVE OF MRS. HEMANS by CECIL FRANCES ALEXANDER THOSE GRAVES IN ROME by LARRY LEVIS NOT TO BE DWELLED ON by HEATHER MCHUGH ONE LAST DRAW OF THE PIPE by PAUL MULDOON ETRUSCAN TOMB by JOHN FREDERICK NIMS ENDING WITH A LINE FROM LEAR by MARVIN BELL FEBRUARY IN ROME by EDMUND WILLIAM GOSSE |
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