Esther, A Sonnet Sequence: LI

Wilfrid Scawen Blunt 1840 (Petworth House) – 1922 (United Kingdom)



When I hear laughter from a tavern door,
When I see crowds agape and in the rain
Watching on tiptoe and with stifled roar
To see a rocket fired or a bull slain,
When misers handle gold, when orators
Touch strong men's hearts with glory till they weep,
When cities deck their streets for barren wars
Which have laid waste their youth, and when I keep
Calmly the count of my own life and see
On what poor stuff my manhood's dreams were fed
Till I too learned what dole of vanity
Will serve a human soul for daily bread,
--Then I remember that I once was young
And lived with Esther the world's gods among.

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Submitted on May 13, 2011

Modified on March 05, 2023

36 sec read
119

Quick analysis:

Scheme ABABCDEDFGFGHH
Closest metre Iambic pentameter
Characters 598
Words 118
Stanzas 1
Stanza Lengths 14

Wilfrid Scawen Blunt

Wilfrid Scawen Blunt was an English poet and writer. more…

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