I STOOD beneath the Arch of Titus long; On Hebrew forms there sculptured long I pored; Till fancy, by a distant clarion stung, Woke; and methought there moved that arch toward A Roman triumph. Lance and helm and sword Glittered; white coursers tramped and trumpets rung: Last came, car-borne amid a captive throng, The laurelled son of Rome's imperial lord. As though by wings of unseen eagles fanned The Conqueror's cheek, when first that arch he saw, Burned with the flush he strove in vain to quell. Titus! a loftier arch than thine hath spanned Rome and the world with empery and law; Thereof each stone was hewn from Israel! | Discover our Poem Explanations and Poet Analyses!Other Poems of Interest...EROS by ROBERT SEYMOUR BRIDGES ECHO AND SILENCE by SAMUEL EGERTON BRYDGES THE DEATH OF LEONIDAS by GEORGE CROLY THE HEMLOCK by EMILY DICKINSON THE SPROUTING BOARD by AL-ISRA'ILI ECLOGUE: THE 'LOTMENTS by WILLIAM BARNES THE FOUR ZOAS: NIGHTS THE NINTH by WILLIAM BLAKE THE NEW MOON by EDMUND CHARLES BLUNDEN EPIGRAM ON ONE BORN BLIND, AND SO DEAD by WILLIAM BROWNE (1591-1643) |