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Classic and Contemporary Poetry


GREEN SLATES (PENPETHY) by THOMAS HARDY

Poet Analysis

First Line: IT HAPPENED ONCE, BEFORE THE DULLER
Last Line: "STANDING IN THE QUARRY!"
Subject(s): MEMORY; QUARRIES;

IT happened once, before the duller
Loomings of life defined them,
I searched for slates of greenish colour
A quarry where men mined them;

And saw, the while I peered around there,
In the quarry standing
A form against the slate background there,
Of fairness eye-commanding.

And now, though fifty years have flown me,
With all their dreams and duties,
And strange-pipped dice my hand has thrown me
And dust are all her beauties,

Green slates -- seen high on roofs, or lower
In waggon, truck, or lorry --
Cry out: "Our home was where you saw her
Standing in the quarry!"



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