Poetry Explorer


Classic and Contemporary Poetry


THE LIFE-MASK OF KEATS by EDITH MATILDA THOMAS

First Line: WHETHER, UPLIFTING SLOW HIS DREAMFUL HEAD
Last Line: BEHOLD ENDYMION, WHOM A LOVE UNKNOWN HATH CROWNED!

WHETHER, uplifting slow his dreamful head,
He leaves a couch the fragrant pine has strown,
Whether the dim, enchanted woods have known
The sleeper's unimperiled velvet tread;
Or whether, through some winding cavern led,
That, like the shell, rings drear with ocean's moan,
He wanders till the sea, wide, bright, and lone,
Beneath his visionary eye is spread --

Whether awake, or still by slumber bound,
Behold that shepherd with a world foregone,
To hoard the white rays of a mystic Dawn, --
A listener to aerial silver sound,
With subtle moonlight smile, devote, withdrawn, --
Behold Endymion, whom a Love unknown hath crowned!



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