Poetry Explorer- Classic Contemporary Poetry, SONNET: 71. TO THE POPPY, by ANNA SEWARD


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Classic and Contemporary Poetry

SONNET: 71. TO THE POPPY, by                 Poet Analysis     Poet's Biography
First Line: While summer roses all their glory yield
Last Line: Thou flimsy, showy, melancholy weed.
Alternate Author Name(s): Seward, Nancy
Subject(s): Poppies


WHILE summer roses all their glory yield
To crown the votary of love and joy,
Misfortune's victim hails, with many a sigh,
Thee, scarlet Poppy of the pathless field,
Gaudy, yet wild and lone; no leaf to shield
Thy flaccid vest that, as the gale blows high,
Flaps, and alternate folds around thy head.
So stands in the long grass a love-crazed maid,
Smiling aghast; while stream to every wind
Her garish ribbons, smeared with dust and rain;
But brain-sick visions cheat her tortured mind,
And bring false peace. Thus, lulling grief and pain,
Kind dreams oblivious from thy juice proceed,
Thou flimsy, showy, melancholy weed.





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