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Classic and Contemporary Poetry


ELEGIAC SONNET: 59. WRITTEN DURING REMARKABLE THUNDER STORM by CHARLOTTE SMITH

Poet Analysis

First Line: WHAT AWFUL PAGEANTS CROWD THE EVENING SKY!
Last Line: SMILES AT THE TUMULT OF THE TROUBLED EARTH.
Subject(s): STORMS;

IN WHICH THE MOON WAS PERFECTLY CLEAR, WHILE THE TEMPEST GATHERED IN VARIOUS
DIRECTIONS NEAR THE EARTH

What awful pageants crowd the evening sky!
The low horizon gathering vapours shroud;
Sudden, from many a deep-embattled cloud
Terrific thunders burst, and lightnings fly --
While in serenest azure, beaming high,
Night's regent, of her calm pavilion proud,
Gilds the dark shadows that beneath her lie,
Unvex'd by all their conflicts fierce and loud.
-- So, in unsullied dignity elate,
A spirit conscious of superior worth,
In placid elevation firmly great,
Scorns the vain cares that give Contention birth;
And blest with peace above the shocks of Fate,
Smiles at the tumult of the troubled earth.



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