Poetry Explorer


Classic and Contemporary Poetry


A SAIL by MIKHAIL YUREVICH LERMONTOV

Poet Analysis

First Line: A SOLITARY SAIL THAT RISES
Last Line: AS IF THE STORMS COULD GIVE REPOSE.

A SOLITARY sail that rises
White in the blue mist on the foam, --
What is it in far lands it prizes?
What does it leave behind at home?

Whistles the wind, the waves are playing,
The labouring masthead groans and creaks.
Ah, not from pleasure is it straying,
It is not pleasure that it seeks.

Beneath, the azure current floweth;
Above, the golden sunlight glows.
Rebellious, the storms it wooeth,
As if the storms could give repose.



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