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Classic and Contemporary Poetry


THE WANDERER: 1. IN ITALY: THE MAGIC LAND by EDWARD ROBERT BULWER-LYTTON

Poet Analysis

First Line: BY WOODLAND BELT, BY OCEAN BAR
Last Line: "TO ONE SWEET NOTE, SIGHED ""ITALY!"
Subject(s): ITALY; TRAVEL; ITALIANS; JOURNEYS; TRIPS;

BY woodland belt, by ocean bar,
The full south breeze our foreheads fanned,
And, under many a yellow star,
We dropped into the Magic Land.

There, every sound and every sight
Means more than sight or sound elsewhere;
Each twilight star a twofold light;
Each rose a double redness, there.

By ocean bar, by woodland belt,
Our silent course a syren led,
Till dark in dawn began to melt,
Through the wild wizard-work o'erhead.

A murmur from the violet vales!
A glory in the goblin dell!
There Beauty all her breast unveils,
And Music pours out all her shell.

We watched, toward the land of dreams,
The fair moon draw the murmuring main;
A single thread of silver beams
Was made the monster's rippling chain.

We heard far off the syren's song;
We caught the gleam of sea-maid's hair.
The glimmering isles and rocks among,
We moved through sparkling purple air.

Then Morning rose, and smote from far,
Her elfin harps o'er land and sea;
And woodland belt, and ocean bar,
To one sweet note, sighed "Italy!"



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