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Classic and Contemporary Poetry


ON APPROACHING THE STAUB-BACH, LAUTERBRUNNEN by WILLIAM WORDSWORTH

Poet Analysis

First Line: UTTERED BY WHOM, OR HOW INSPIRED - DESIGNED
Last Line: THIS BOLD, THIS BRIGHT, THIS SKY-BORN WATERFALL!
Subject(s): LAUTERBRUNNEN, SWITZERLAND; WATERFALLS;

UTTERED by whom, or how inspired, -- designed
For what strange service, does this concert reach
Our ears, and near the dwellings of mankinb!
Mid fields familiarized to human speech?
No mermaids warble -- to allay the wind
Driving some vessel toward a dangerous beach, --
More thrilling melodies; witch answering witch,
To chant a love-spell, never intertwined
Notes shrill and wild with art more musical:
Alas! that from the lips of abject want
Or idleness in tatters mendicant
The strain should flow, -- free fancy to enthral,
And with regret and useless pity haunt
This bold, this bright, this sky-born waterfall!



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