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Classic and Contemporary Poetry


ON THE DEATH OF A METAPHYSICIAN by GEORGE SANTAYANA

Poet Analysis

First Line: UNHAPPY DREAMER, WHO OUTWINGED IN FLIGHT
Last Line: BUBBLE FROM DEPTHS OF THE ICARIAN SEA.
Subject(s): METAPHYSICS;

UNHAPPY dreamer, who outwinged in flight
The pleasant region of the things I love,
And soared beyond the sunshine, and above
The golden cornfields and the dear and bright
Warmth of the hearth, -- blasphemer of delight,
Was your proud bosom not at peace with Jove,
That you sought, thankless for his guarded grove,
The empty horror of abysmal night ?
Ah, the thin air is cold above the moon !
I stood and saw you fall, befooled in death,
As, in your numbed spirit's fatal swoon,
You cried you were a god, or were to be;
I heard with feeble moan your boastful breath
Bubble from depths of the Icarian sea.



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