Poetry Explorer

Classic and Contemporary Poetry

AN AUGUST MIDNIGHT by THOMAS HARDY

Poet Analysis

First Line: A SHADED LAMP AND A WAVING BLIND
Last Line: THEY KNOW EARTH-SECRETS THAT KNOW NOT I.
Subject(s): INSECTS; BUGS;
I

A SHADED lamp and a waving blind,
And the beat of a clock from a distant floor:
On this scene enter - winged, horned, and spined -
A longlegs, a moth, and a dumbledore;
While 'mid my page there idly stands
A sleepy fly, that rubs its hands ...

II

Thus meet we five, in this still place,
At this point of time, at this point in space.
- My guests besmear my new-penned line,
Or bang at the lamp and fall supine.
'God's humblest, they!' I muse. Yet why?
They know Earth-secrets that know not I.



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