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Classic and Contemporary Poetry


VENUS DISROBING FOR THE BATH by ALFRED NOYES

Poet Analysis

First Line: OVER THE FIRM YOUNG BOSOM'S POLISHED PEAKS
Last Line: KISSES IT WITH A MURMUR OF WILD HOPE.

OVER the firm young bosom's polished peaks
The thin white robe slips dimly as a dream
Slowly dissolving in the sun's first beam:
Far off the sad sea sighs and vainly seeks
The abandoned shell that bore her to the Greeks
When first she slumbered on the sea-blue stream,
And in the dawn's first faint wild golden gleam
The white doves woke her with their soft red beaks.

From breast to sunny thigh the light silk slips
On every rose-white curve and rounded slope
Pausing; and now it lies around her feet
In tiny clouds: now timidly she dips
One foot; the warm wave, shivering at her sweet,
Kisses it with a murmur of wild hope.



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