GRIMLY it frowned when first with shuddering mind We saw the far-famed Cavern's darkling womb, And for that vault of silence and of gloom Left the fair day and smiling world behind. But what bright wonder hailed our eyes erelong! The crystal well, the sparry curtained dome, The sparkling shafts that propped that caverned home, And vaults that turned the homeliest sounds to song. O, this, I thought, is sure a symbol plain Of that undreaded death the holy die, Stern at the first and withering to the view; But past that gate of darkness and of pain, What scenes of unimagined rapture lie, Rich with elysian wealth and splendor ever new. | Discover our Poem Explanations and Poet Analyses!Other Poems of Interest...STANZAS; HOOD'S LAST POEM by THOMAS HOOD SONNET: AUTUMN by HENRY WADSWORTH LONGFELLOW ON A GREEK VASE by FRANK DEMPSTER SHERMAN LITTLE JESUS by FRANCIS THOMPSON THE CASTLE OF INDOLENCE: CANTO 1 by JAMES THOMSON (1700-1748) FOUR SONNETS: 4 by FRANK DAVIS ASHBURN |