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Classic and Contemporary Poetry


SPOON RIVER ANTHOLOGY: JENNIE M'GREW by EDGAR LEE MASTERS

Poet Analysis

First Line: NOT, WHERE THE STAIRWAY TURNS IN THE DARK
Last Line: AND THAT I SAW!

NOT, where the stairway turns in the dark,
A hooded figure, shriveled under a flowing cloak!
Not yellow eyes in the room at night,
Staring out from a surface of cobweb gray!
And not the flap of a condor wing,
When the roar of life in your ears begins
As a sound heard never before!
But on a sunny afternoon,
By a country road,
Where purple rag-weeds bloom along a straggling fence,
And the field is gleaned, and the air is still,
To see against the sun-light something black,
Like a blot with an iris rim --
That is the sign to eyes of second sight....
And that I saw!



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