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Classic and Contemporary Poetry


THE COMING STORM' (A PICTURE BY R. S. GIFFORD) by HERMAN MELVILLE

Poet Analysis

First Line: ALL FEELING HEARTS MUST FEEL FOR HIM
Last Line: MAN'S FINAL LORE.
Subject(s): ART & ARTISTS; GIFFORD, ROBERT SWAIN (1840-1905); PAINTINGS & PAINTERS;

All feeling hearts must feel for him
Who felt this picture. Presage dim --
Dim inklings from the shadowy sphere
Fixed him and fascinated here.

A demon-cloud like the mountain one
Burst on a spirit as mild
As this urned lake, the home of shades,
But Shakespeare's pensive child.

Never the lines had lightly scanned,
Steeped in fable, steeped in fate;
The Hamlet in his heart was 'ware,
Such hearts can antedate.

No utter surprise can come to him
Who reaches Shakespeare's core;
That which we seek and shun is there --
Man's final lore.



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