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Classic and Contemporary Poetry


ELEGIAC SONNET: 12. WRITTEN ON THE SEA SHORE by CHARLOTTE SMITH

Poet Analysis

First Line: ON SOME RUDE FRAGMENT OF THE ROCKY SHORE
Last Line: TILL IN THE RISING TIDE THE EXHAUSTED SUFFERER DIES.

On some rude fragment of the rocky shore,
Where on the fractured cliff the billows break,
Musing, my solitary seat I take,
And listen to the deep and solemn roar.

O'er the dark waves the winds tempestuous howl;
The screaming sea-bird quits the troubled sea:
But the wild gloomy scene has charms for me,
And suits the mournful temper of my soul.

Already shipwreck'd by the storms of Fate,
Like the poor mariner, methinks, I stand,
Cast on a rock; who sees the distant land
From whence no succour comes -- or comes too late.
Faint and more faint are heard his feeble cries,
'Till in the rising tide the exhausted sufferer dies.



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