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Classic and Contemporary Poetry


THE FIRST DOUBT by LETITIA ELIZABETH LANDON

Poet Analysis

First Line: YOUTH, LOVE, AND RANK, AND WEALTH - ALL THESE COMBINED
Last Line: SHE SANK BEFORE THE PRESENCE OF DESPAIR!
Subject(s): LOVE - UNREQUITED;

YOUTH, love, and rank, and wealth -- all these combined,
Can these be wretched? Mystery of the mind,
Whose happiness is in itself; but still
Has not that happiness at its own will.
She felt too wretched with the sudden fear --
Had she such lovely rival, and so near?
Ay, bitterest of the bitter this worst pain,
To know love's offering has been in vain;
Rejected, scorn'd, and trampled under foot,
Its bloom and leaves destroyed, but not its root.
"He loves me not!" -- no other words nor sound
An echo in the lady's bosom found:
It was a wretchedness too great to bear,
She sank before the presence of despair!



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