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Classic and Contemporary Poetry

SONNET: 9 by RICHARD BARNFIELD

First Line: DIANA (ON A TIME) WALKING THE WOOD
Last Line: SHE CALL'D HIM GANYMEDE: AS ALL DIVINE.
Subject(s): DIANA (GODDESS);
Diana (on a time) walking the wood,
To sport herselfe, of her faire traine forlorne,
Chaunc't for to pricke her foote against a thorne,
And from thence issu'd out a streame of blood.
No sooner shee was vanisht out of sight,
But loves faire Queen came there away by chance,
And having of this hap a glym'ring glance,
She put the blood into a christall bright,
When being now come unto mount Rhodope,
With her faire hands she formes a shape of Snow,
And blends it with this blood; from whence doth grow
A lovely creature, brighter than the Dey.
And being christned in faire Paphos shrine,
She call'd him Ganymede: as all divine.



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