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Classic and Contemporary Poetry


THE ELFIN VALLEY by MARY WEBB

Poet Analysis

First Line: BY THIS LOW ROCK POOL, DARK AND SWEET
Last Line: HAS LAID A SPELL OF GOLD.
Subject(s): LAKES; NATURE; SUMMER; POOLS; PONDS;

BY THIS low rock pool, dark and sweet,
Where panting Summer cools her feet.
No creature stirs, except the leaves
That sometimes glide along the air
Like children down a shallow stair.
And nothing strives or grieves.

The long ferns drip from every frond.
Green, round, and polished lies the pond.
A mirror for the stooping moon.
Above, the fall is straight and white.
A comet in a sultry night,
Among the leaves of June.

All spell-bound in the drowsy gloom,
Grey-leaved, white-flowered, the mulleins bloom;
And if a swallow suddenly
Should cut the pool with one sharp wing,
Or if a thrush come here to sing,
It seems a prodigy.

A lone green valley, good for sheep,
Where still the ancient fairies keep
Their right of way and copyhold
All night with mullein torches. Far
Within the stream, a dreaming star
Has laid a spell of gold.



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