Classic and Contemporary Poetry
THE FAMILY: 1. MOTHER AND DAUGHTER, by ROBERT LOUIS STEVENSON Poet Analysis Poet's Biography First Line: High as my heart! The quip be mine Last Line: My solace and its ornament! Alternate Author Name(s): Stevenson, Robert Lewis Balfour Subject(s): Family Life; Mothers & Daughters; Relatives | ||||||||
1 MOTHER AND DAUGHTER High as my heart! -- the quip be mine That draws their stature to a line, My pair of fairies plump and dark, The dryads of my cattle park. Here by my window close I sit, And watch (and my heart laughs at it) How these my dragon-lilies are Alike and yet dissimilar. From European womankind They are divided and defined By the free limb and the plain mind, The nobler gait, the naked foot, The indiscreeter petticoat; And show, by each endearing cause, More like what Eve in Eden was -- Buxom and free, flowing and fine, In every limb, in every line, Inimitably feminine. Like ripe fruit on the espaliers Their sun-bepainted hue appears, And the white lace (when lace they wear) Shows on their golden breast more fair. So far the same they seem, and yet One apes the shrew, one the coquette -- A sybil or a truant child. One runs, with a crop-halo, wild; And one, more sedulous to please, Her long dark hair, deep as her knees And thrid with living silver, sees. What need have I of wealth or fame, A club, an often-printed name? It more contents my heart to know Them going simply to and fro: To see the dear pair pause and pass Girded, among the drenching grass, In the resplendent sun; or hear, When the huge moon delays to appear, Their kindred voices sounding near In the verandah twilight. So Sound ever; so, for ever go And come upon your small brown feet: Twin honours to my country seat And its too happy master lent: My solace and its ornament! | Discover our Poem Explanations and Poet Analyses!Other Poems of Interest...MY AUNT ELLA MAE by MICHAEL S. HARPER THE GOLDEN SHOVEL by TERRANCE HAYES LIZARDS AND SNAKES by ANTHONY HECHT THE BOOK OF A THOUSAND EYES: I LOVE by LYN HEJINIAN CHILD ON THE MARSH by ANDREW HUDGINS MY MOTHER'S HANDS by ANDREW HUDGINS PLAYING DEAD by ANDREW HUDGINS THE GLASS HAMMER by ANDREW HUDGINS INSECT LIFE OF FLORIDA by LYNDA HULL A GOOD PLAY by ROBERT LOUIS STEVENSON |
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