A Blockhead

Amy Lowell 1874 (Brookline) – 1925 (Brookline)



Before me lies a mass of shapeless days,
Unseparated atoms, and I must
Sort them apart and live them. Sifted dust
Covers the formless heap. Reprieves, delays,
There are none, ever. As a monk who prays
The sliding beads asunder, so I thrust
Each tasteless particle aside, and just
Begin again the task which never stays.
And I have known a glory of great suns,
When days flashed by, pulsing with joy and fire!
Drunk bubbled wine in goblets of desire,
And felt the whipped blood laughing as it runs!
Spilt is that liquor, my too hasty hand
Threw down the cup, and did not understand.

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Submitted on May 13, 2011

Modified on April 21, 2023

32 sec read
255

Quick analysis:

Scheme ABBAABBACDDCEE
Closest metre Iambic pentameter
Characters 576
Words 108
Stanzas 1
Stanza Lengths 14

Amy Lowell

Amy Lawrence Lowell was an American poet of the imagist school from Brookline, Massachusetts who posthumously won the Pulitzer Prize for Poetry in 1926. more…

All Amy Lowell poems | Amy Lowell Books

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