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Classic and Contemporary Poetry


A NOON INTERVAL by JAMES WHITCOMB RILEY

Poet Analysis

First Line: A DEEP, DELICIOUS HUSH IN EARTH AND SKY
Last Line: THE WAND WAVES, AND THE DOZER SINKS AWAY.
Subject(s): EARTH; NOON; SLEEP; SUMMER; WORLD;

A DEEP, delicious hush in earth and sky --
A gracious lull -- since, from its wakening,
The morn has been a feverish, restless thing
In which the pulse of Summer ran too high
And riotous, as though its heart went nigh
To bursting with delights past uttering:
Now, as an o'erjoyed child may cease to sing
All falteringly at play, with drowsy eye
Draining the pictures of a fairy tale
To brim his dreams with -- there comes o'er the day
A loathful silence, wherein all sounds fail
Like loitering tones of some faint roundelay . . .
No wakeful effort longer may avail --
The wand waves, and the dozer sinks away.



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