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Classic and Contemporary Poetry


MALHAM COVE by WILLIAM WORDSWORTH

Poet Analysis

First Line: WAS THE AIM FRUSTRATED BY FORCE OR GUILE
Last Line: THAN NOBLEST OBJECTS UTTERLY DECAYED.

WAS the aim frustrated by force or guile,
When giants scooped from out the rocky ground,
Tier under tier, this semicirque profound?
(Giants -- the same who built in Erin's isle
That Causeway with incomparable toil!) --
Oh, had this vast theatric structure wound
With finished sweep into a perfect round,
No mightier work had gained the plausive smile
Of all-beholding Phoebus! But, alas,
Vain earth! false world! Foundations must be laid
In Heaven; for, 'mid the wreck of IS and WAS,
Things incomplete and purposes betrayed
Make sadder transits o'er thought's optic glass
Than noblest objects utterly decayed.




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