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Classic and Contemporary Poetry

SONNET: TWO PICTURES by PAUL HAMILTON HAYNE

Poet Analysis

First Line: SHE STOOD BENEATH THE VINE-LEAVES FLUSHED AND FAIR
Last Line: THE CRUEL WAVES WHICH DROWNED HER LAPPED THE SHORE.
Subject(s): DROWNING;
SHE stood beneath the vine-leaves flushed and fair;
The dimpling smiles around her tender mouth,
Seemed born of mellow sunshine of the South;
A light breeze trembled in her unbound hair;
No young Greek goddess, in the violet air
Of vales immortal, shone with purer grace;
A delicate glory touched her form and face,
Whence the sweet soul looked on us, nobly bare, --
As Heaven itself, unclouded: -- thus she stood,
But when I saw her next (O God! the woe!)
Love, mirth, and life had fled forever more;
Prostrate she lay, about her a dark wood,
And many a helpless mourner, wailing low;
The cruel waves which drowned her lapped the shore.



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