Poetry Explorer

Classic and Contemporary Poetry

NOT BY THE SEA by SARA TEASDALE

Poet Analysis

First Line: NOT BY THE SEA, BUT SOMEWHERE IN THE HILLS
Last Line: THERE MUST BE SLEEP, EVEN FOR SLEEPLESS EYES.
Subject(s): SLEEP;
Not by the sea, but somewhere in the hills,
Not by the sea, but in the uplands surely
There must be rest where a dim pool demurely
Watches all night the stern slow-moving skies;

Not by the sea, that never was appeased,
Not by the sea, whose immemorial longing
Shames the tired earth where even longing dies,
Not by the sea that bore Iseult and Helen,
But in a dark green hollow of the hills
There must be sleep, even for sleepless eyes.



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