William Blake

James Thomson 1700 (Port Glasgow) – 1748 (London)



He came to the desert of London town
Gray miles long;
He wandered up and he wandered down,
Singing a quiet song.

He came to the desert of London town,
Mirk miles broad;
He wandered up and he wandered down,
Ever alone with God.

There were thousands and thousands of human kind
In this desert of brick and stone;
But some were deaf and some were blind,
And he was there alone.

At length the good hour came; he died
As he had lived, alone.
He was not missed from the desert wide;
Perhaps he was found at the throne.

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Submitted on May 13, 2011

Modified on March 05, 2023

30 sec read
140

Quick analysis:

Scheme AbAb AxAx cdcd eded
Closest metre Iambic tetrameter
Characters 520
Words 102
Stanzas 4
Stanza Lengths 4, 4, 4, 4

James Thomson

James Thomson, who wrote under the pseudonym Bysshe Vanolis, was a Scottish Victorian-era poet famous primarily for the long poem The City of Dreadful Night, an expression of bleak pessimism in a dehumanized, uncaring urban environment. more…

All James Thomson poems | James Thomson Books

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