Poetry Explorer- Classic Contemporary Poetry, DARTMOOR, by COVENTRY KERSEY DIGHTON PATMORE


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Classic and Contemporary Poetry

DARTMOOR, by                 Poet Analysis     Poet's Biography
First Line: I crossed the furze-grown table-land
Last Line: Call down the hiveless swarms.
Subject(s): Dartmoor, England; Railroads; Smoke; Travel; Railways; Trains; Journeys; Trips


I crossed the furze-grown table-land
And neared the northern vales,
That lay perspicuously planned
In lesser hills and dales.
Then, rearward, in a slow review,
Fell Dartmoor's jagged lines;
Around were dross-heaps, red and blue,
Old shafts of gutted mines,
Impetuous currents copper-stained,
Wheels stream-urged with a roar,
Sluice-guiding grooves, strong works that strained
With freight of upheaved ore.
And then, the train, with shock on shock,
Swift rush and birth-scream dire,
Grew from the bosom of the rock,
And passed in noise and fire.
With brazen throb, with vital stroke,
It went, far heard, far seen,
Setting a track of shining smoke
Upon the pastoral green.
Then, bright drops, lodged in budding trees,
Were loosed in sudden showers,
Touched by the novel western breeze,
Friend of the backward flowers.
Then rose the Church at Tavistock,
The rain still falling there;
But sunny Dartmoor seemed to mock
The gloom with cheerful glare.
About the West the gilt vane reeled
And poised; and with sweet art,
The sudden, jangling changes pealed
Until, around my heart,
Conceits of brighter times, of times
The brighter for past storms,
Clung thick as bees, when brazen chimes
Call down the hiveless swarms.





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