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Classic and Contemporary Poetry

HIS IMMORTALITY by THOMAS HARDY

Poet Analysis

First Line: I SAW A DEAD MAN'S FINER PART
Last Line: DYING AMID THE DARK.
Subject(s): IMMORTALITY;
I

I SAW a dead man's finer part
Shining within each faithful heart
Of those bereft. Then said I: 'This must be
His immortality.'

II

I looked there as the seasons wore,
And still his soul continuously bore
A life in theirs. But less its shine excelled
Than when I first beheld.

III

His fellow-yearsmen passed, and then
In later hearts I looked for him again;
And found him - shrunk, alas! into a thin
And spectral mannikin.

IV

Lastly I ask - now old and chill -
If aught of him remain unperished still;
And find, in me alone, a feeble spark,
Dying amid the dark.



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