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Classic and Contemporary Poetry

PAIN OR JOY by CHRISTINA GEORGINA ROSSETTI

Poet Analysis

First Line: HARK! THAT'S THE NIGHTINGALE
Last Line: THROBS IN EACH THROBBING VEIN?
Subject(s): BIRDS; HAPPINESS; NIGHTINGALES; PAIN; JOY; DELIGHT; SUFFERING; MISERY;
Hark! that's the nightingale,
Telling the selfsame tale
Her song told when this ancient earth was young:
So echoes answered when her song was sung
In the first wooded vale.

We call it love and pain
The passion of her strain;
And yet we little understand or know;
Why should it not be rather joy that so
Throbs in each throbbing vein?


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