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Classic and Contemporary Poetry


A SOLITUDE by ALGERNON CHARLES SWINBURNE

Poet Analysis

First Line: SEA BEYOND SEA, SAND AFTER SWEEP OF SAND
Last Line: BENEATH THE COIL OF DULL DENSE WAVES AND HOURS?
Subject(s): SAILING & SAILORS; SEA; OCEAN;

SEA beyond sea, sand after sweep of sand,
Here ivory smooth, here cloven and ridged with flow
Of channelled waters soft as rain or snow,
Stretch their lone length at ease beneath the bland
Gray gleam of skies whose smile on wave and strand
Shines weary like a man's who smiles to know
That now no dream can mock his faith with show,
Nor cloud for him seem living sea or land.

Is there an end at all of all this waste,
These crumbling cliffs defeatured and defaced,
These ruinous heights of sea-sapped walls that slide
Seaward with all their banks of bleak blown flowers
Glad yet of life, ere yet their hope subside
Beneath the coil of dull dense waves and hours?



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