Classic and Contemporary Poetry
THE ROMAN GRAVEMOUNDS, by THOMAS HARDY Poet Analysis Poet's Biography First Line: By rome's dim relics there walks a man Last Line: Yet its mourner's mood has a charm for me. Subject(s): Graves; Rome, Italy; Tombs; Tombstones | ||||||||
BY Rome's dim relics there walks a man, Eyes bent; and he carries a basket and spade; I guess what impels him to scrape and scan; Yea, his dreams of that Empire long decayed. 'Vast was Rome,' he must muse, 'in the world's regard, Vast it looms there still, vast it ever will be;' And he stoops as to dig and unmine some shard Left by those who are held in such memory. But no; in his basket, see, he has brought A little white furred thing, stiff of limb, Whose life never won from the world a thought; It is this, and not Rome, that is moving him. And to make it a grave he has come to the spot, And he delves in the ancient dead's long home; Their fames, their achievements, the man knows not; The furred thing is all to him - nothing Rome! 'Here say you that Caesar's warriors lie? - But my little white cat was my only friend! Could she but live, might the record die Of Caesar, his legions, his aims, his end!' Well, Rome's long rule here is oft and again A theme for the sages of history, And the small furred life was worth no one's pen; Yet its mourner's mood has a charm for me. | 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 AND THERE WAS A GREAT CALM' by THOMAS HARDY |
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