Poetry Explorer


Classic and Contemporary Poetry


A LETTER by PHILIP JAMES BAILEY

Poet Analysis

First Line: WHEN HE HATH HAD / A LETTER FROM HIS LADY
Last Line: AS HATH A SWORD FROM WAR.
Subject(s): LETTERS;

WHEN he hath had
A letter from his lady dear, he bless'd
The paper that her hand had travell'd over,
And her eye look'd on, and would think he saw
Gleams of that light she lavish'd from her eyes,
Wandering amid the words of love she'd traced
Like glowworms among beds of flowers. He seem'd
To bear with being but because she loved him;
She was the sheath wherein his soul had rest,
As hath a sword from war.



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