Classic and Contemporary Poetry
PSYCHE, by ZINAIDA HIPPIUS Poet's Biography First Line: A shameless thing, of every vileness capable Last Line: This horror that I shrink fromis my soul. Subject(s): Psyche (mythology); Self; Soul | ||||||||
A shameless thing, of every vileness capable, It is as drab as dust, as earthly dust. I perish of a nearness inescapable; Its fatal coils about my limbs are thrust. A shaggy poulp, embracing me, and pricking me, And as a serpent cold against my heart, Its branching scales are poisoned arrows sticking me; Worse than their bite: repulsion's horrid smart. Oh, were its sting a veritable knife in me! But it is flaccid, clumsy, still and numb. Thus sluggishly sucking the very life in me, A torpid dragon, dreadful, deaf, and dumb. With stubborn rings it winds in mute obscurity And clings caressingly, its purpose whole. And this dead thing, this loathsome black impurity, This horror that I shrink fromis my soul. | Discover our Poem Explanations and Poet Analyses!Other Poems of Interest...THE CRUEL FALCON by ROBINSON JEFFERS THE WHOLE SOUL by PHILIP LEVINE I KNOW MY SOUL by CLAUDE MCKAY HONORING THE SAND; IN MEMORY OF JOSEPH CAMPBELL by ROBERT BLY THE CHINESE PEAKS; FOR DONALD HALL by ROBERT BLY THE LIFE OF TOWNS: TOWN OF THE EXHUMATION by ANNE CARSON NO MATTER WHAT, AFTER ALL, AND THAT BEAUTIFUL WORD SO by HAYDEN CARRUTH |
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