LIFE AND CONTACTS For three years, out of key with his time, He strove to resuscitate the dead art Of poetry; to maintain "the sublime" In the old sense. Wrong from the start -- No, hardly, but seeing he had been born In a half savage country, out of date; Bent resolutely on wringing lilies from the acorn; Capaneus; trout for factitious bait; "Idmen gar toi panth'hos eni Troiei," Caught in the unstopped ear; Giving the rocks small lee-way The chopped seas held him, therefore, that year. His true Penelope was Flaubert, He fished by obstinate isles; Observed the elegance of Circe's hair Rather than the mottoes on sun-dials. Unaffected by "the march of events," He passed from men's memory in @3l'an trentiesme@1 @3De son eage@1; the case presents No adjunct to the Muses' diadem. | Discover our Poem Explanations and Poet Analyses!Other Poems of Interest...LOCKED OUT; AS TOLD TO A CHILD by ROBERT FROST SYNOPSIS OF A FAILED POEM by JAMES GALVIN DEAD LEAVES by GEORGIA DOUGLAS JOHNSON BEFORE A PAINTING by JAMES WELDON JOHNSON THE SEASONS by JAMES WELDON JOHNSON THE FEAST OF LIGHTS by EMMA LAZARUS |