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DIVINA COMMEDIA (INTRODUCTORY POEMS): 3 by HENRY WADSWORTH LONGFELLOW

Poet Analysis

First Line: I ENTER, AND I SEE THEE IN THE GLOOM
Last Line: "AS SCARLET BE,"" AND ENDS WITH ""AS THE SNOW."

I enter, and I see thee in the gloom
Of the long aisles, O poet saturnine!
And strive to make my steps keep pace with thine.
The air is filled with some unknown perfume;
The congregation of the dead make room
For thee to pass; the votive tapers shine;
Like rooks that haunt Ravenna's groves of pine
The hovering echoes fly from tomb to tomb.
From the confessionals I hear arise
Rehearsals of forgotten tragedies,
And lamentations from the crypts below;
And then a voice celestial that begins
With the pathetic words, "Although your sins
As scarlet be," and ends with "as the snow."



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