Classic and Contemporary Poetry
TO MY ELDEST CHILD, by WILLIAM WATSON Poet Analysis Poet's Biography First Line: My little firstborn daughter sweet Last Line: That shall behold them reconciled. Alternate Author Name(s): Watson, John William Subject(s): Children; Childhood | ||||||||
MY little firstborn daughter sweet -- My child, yet half of alien race -- England and Ireland surely meet, Their feuds forgotten, in thy face. To both these lands I'd have thee give Thy maiden heart, surrendered free; For both alike I'd have thee live, Since both alike do live in thee. In thee they lay their strife aside, That were so worn with dire unrest; These whom the waters parted wide, But who commingle in thy breast. These would I teach thee to revere, To love, and serve, and understand; Nor would I have thee hold less dear Thy mother's than thy father's land. The English fields, in sun and rain, Were round about thee at thy birth; But thou shalt ache with Ireland's pain, And thou shalt laugh with Ireland's mirth. Thou shalt be taught her noble songs, And thou shalt grieve whene'er is told The story of her ancient wrongs, The story of her sorrows old. And often, in thy English home, Her voice will call, and thou obey. Thy heart will cross the sundering foam, Thy soul to Ireland sail away. Ah, little flower! in Irish ground Thy roots are deeper than the sea, Though English woodlands murmured round The house of thy nativity. Of both these peoples thou wert born; Of both these lands thou art the child; Surely a symbol of the morn That shall behold them reconciled. | Discover our Poem Explanations and Poet Analyses!Other Poems of Interest...THE THREE CHILDREN by JOSEPHINE JACOBSEN CHILDREN SELECTING BOOKS IN A LIBRARY by RANDALL JARRELL COME TO THE STONE ... by RANDALL JARRELL THE LOST WORLD by RANDALL JARRELL A SICK CHILD by RANDALL JARRELL CONTINENT'S END by ROBINSON JEFFERS ON THE DEATH OF FRIENDS IN CHILDHOOD by DONALD JUSTICE |
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