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Classic and Contemporary Poetry


THE WHITE HORSE OF WESTBURY by CHARLES TENNYSON TURNER

First Line: AS FROM THE DORSET SHORE I TRAVELLED HOME
Last Line: HE FLOATED UPWARDS, AND REGAINED THE STEEP.
Subject(s): ANIMALS; CARVING (ARTS); HORSES;

As from the Dorset shore I travelled home,
I saw the charger of the Wiltshire wold;
A far-seen figure, stately to behold,
Whose groom the shepherd is, the hoe his comb;
His wizard-spell even sober daylight owned;
That night I dreamed him into living will;
He neighed - and, straight, the chalk poured down the hill;
He shook himself, and all beneath was stoned;
Hengist and Horsa shouted o'er my sleep,
Like fierce Achilles; while that storm-blanched horse
Sprang to the van of all the Saxon force,
And pushed the Britons to the Western deep;
Then, dream-wise, as it were a thing of course,
He floated upwards, and regained the steep.



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