The Poet's Metamorphosis
Eugene Field 1850 (St. Louis) – 1895 (Chicago)
Maecenas, I propose to fly
To realms beyond these human portals;
No common things shall be my wings,
But such as sprout upon immortals.
Of lowly birth, once shed of earth,
Your Horace, precious (so you've told him),
Shall soar away; no tomb of clay
Nor Stygian prison-house shall hold him.
Upon my skin feathers begin
To warn the songster of his fleeting;
But never mind, I leave behind
Songs all the world shall keep repeating.
Lo! Boston girls, with corkscrew curls,
And husky westerns, wild and woolly,
And southern climes shall vaunt my rhymes,
And all profess to know me fully.
Methinks the West shall know me best,
And therefore hold my memory dearer;
For by that lake a bard shall make
My subtle, hidden meanings clearer.
So cherished, I shall never die;
Pray, therefore, spare your dolesome praises,
Your elegies, and plaintive cries,
For I shall fertilize no daisies!
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Submitted on May 13, 2011
Modified on March 05, 2023
- 46 sec read
- 71 Views
Quick analysis:
Scheme | ABXB XCXC XDXD XEXE XFXF AXXX |
---|---|
Closest metre | Iambic tetrameter |
Characters | 861 |
Words | 153 |
Stanzas | 6 |
Stanza Lengths | 4, 4, 4, 4, 4, 4 |
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"The Poet's Metamorphosis" Poetry.com. STANDS4 LLC, 2024. Web. 23 Apr. 2024. <https://www.poetry.com/poem/13087/the-poet's-metamorphosis>.
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