The Railway Station

Archibald Lampman 1861 (Upper Canada) – 1899 (Ottawa, Canada)



The darkness brings no quiet here, the light
    No waking: ever on my blinded brain
    The flare of lights, the rush, and cry, and strain,
  The engines' scream, the hiss and thunder smite:
  I see the hurrying crowds, the clasp, the flight,
    Faces that touch, eyes that are dim with pain:
    I see the hoarse wheels turn, and the great train
  Move labouring out into the bourneless night.
  So many souls within its dim recesses,
    So many bright, so many mournful eyes:
  Mine eyes that watch grow fixed with dreams and guesses;
    What threads of life, what hidden histories,
  What sweet or passionate dreams and dark distresses,
    What unknown thoughts, what various agonies!

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Submitted on May 13, 2011

Modified on May 02, 2023

34 sec read
126

Quick analysis:

Scheme ABBAABBACDCEFE
Closest metre Iambic pentameter
Characters 697
Words 115
Stanzas 1
Stanza Lengths 14

Archibald Lampman

Archibald Lampman FRSC was a Canadian poet. "He has been described as 'the Canadian Keats;' and he is perhaps the most outstanding exponent of the Canadian school of nature poets." The Canadian Encyclopedia says that he is "generally considered the finest of Canada's late 19th-century poets in English." Lampman is classed as one of Canada's Confederation Poets, a group which also includes Charles G.D. Roberts, Bliss Carman, and Duncan Campbell Scott. more…

All Archibald Lampman poems | Archibald Lampman Books

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