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Classic and Contemporary Poetry


BEETHOVEN IN CENTRAL PARK by ALFRED NOYES

Poet Analysis

First Line: THE THOUSAND-WINDOWED TOWERS WERE ALL ALIGHT
Last Line: WITH HIS OWN GRIEF, AND HIS OWN MAJESTY.
Subject(s): BEETHOVEN, LUDWIG VAN (1770-1827); CENTRAL PARK, NEW YORK CITY; COMPOSERS; DREAMS; GRIEF; MUSIC & MUSICIANS; NATIONS; NIGHTMARES; SORROW; SADNESS;

THE thousand-windowed towers were all alight.
Throngs of all nations filled that glittering way;
And, rich with dreams of the approaching day,
Flags of all nations trampled down the night.
No clouds, at sunset, die in airs as bright.
No clouds, at dawn, awake in winds as gay;
For Freedom rose in that august array,
Crowned with the stars and weaponed for the right.

Then, in a place of whispering leaves and gloom,
I saw, too dark, too dumb for bronze or stone,
One tragic head that bowed against the sky;
O, in a hush too deep for any tomb
I saw Beethoven, dreadfully alone
With his own grief, and his own majesty.



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