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Classic and Contemporary Poetry


LOST WINE by PAUL VALERY

Poet Analysis

First Line: ONE DAY I CAST INTO THE SEA
Last Line: FIGURES OF GREATEST PROFUNDITY.
Subject(s): DRINKS & DRINKING; WINGS; WINE;

One day I cast into the sea
(But I no longer remember under what skies)
As an offering unto Nonentity
A little wine of a sort I prize.

Who, O liquor, wished you to part?
Perhaps you were an omen I could not divine:
Perhaps concerned with my own heart,
Thinking of blood, and pouring wine?

I watched the sea resume,
After a rosy spume,
Its usual transparency. ...

Lost the wine, drunk the waves!
I saw leaping from sea-caves
Figures of greatest profundity.



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