THESE umbered cliffs and gnarls of masonry Outskeleton Time's central city, Rome; Whereof each arch, entablature, and dome Lies bare in all its gaunt anatomy. And cracking frieze and rotten metope Express, as though they were an open tome Top-lined with caustic monitory gnome; 'Dunces, Learn here to spell Humanity!' And yet within these ruins' very shade The singing workmen shape and set and join Their frail new mansion's stuccoed cove and quoin With no apparent sense that years abrade, Though each rent wall their feeble works invade Once shamed all such in power of pier and groin. | Discover our Poem Explanations and Poet Analyses!Other Poems of Interest...YOU KNOW WHAT PEOPLE SAY by JAMES GALVIN BENEDICTION by GEORGIA DOUGLAS JOHNSON THE ROAD TO AVIGNON by AMY LOWELL SPOON RIVER ANTHOLOGY: COLUMBUS CHENEY by EDGAR LEE MASTERS SPOON RIVER ANTHOLOGY: JACOB GODBEY by EDGAR LEE MASTERS |