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Classic and Contemporary Poetry
COMPLAINT, by EDWARD SHANKS Poet's Biography First Line: When in the mines of dark and silent thought Last Line: Fails and the pregnant treasures useless lie. | |||
When in the mines of dark and silent thought Sometimes I delve and find strange fancies there, With heavy labour to the surface brought That lie and mock me in the brighter air, Poor ores from starvèd lodes of poverty, Unfit for working or to be refined, That in the darkness cheat the miner's eye, I turn away from that base cave, the mind. Yet had I but the power to crush the stone There are strange metals hid in flakes therein, Each flake a spark sole-hidden and alone, That only cunning, toilsome chemists win. All this I know, and yet my chemistry Fails and the pregnant treasures useless lie. | Discover our Poem Explanations and Poet Analyses!Other Poems of Interest...THE ROCK POOL; TO MISS ALICE WARRENDER by EDWARD SHANKS A POET'S WELCOME TO HIS LOVE-BEGOTTEN DAUGHTER by ROBERT BURNS THE HOUSE OF LIFE: 77. SOUL'S BEAUTY by DANTE GABRIEL ROSSETTI SONNET: 129 by WILLIAM SHAKESPEARE THE SHEPHEARDES CALENDER: NOVEMBER by EDMUND SPENSER MYSELF by HARRIET ELLEN (GRANNIS) AREY BRYANT'S BIRTHPLACE by CHARLOTTE FISKE BATES |
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