Version Of A Fragment Of Simonides

William Cullen Bryant 1794 (Cummington) – 1878 (New York City)



The night winds howled--the billows dashed
Against the tossing chest;
And Danae to her broken heart
Her slumbering infant pressed.

'My little child'--in tears she said--
'To wake and weep is mine,
But thou canst sleep--thou dost not know
Thy mother's lot, and thine.

'The moon is up, the moonbeams smile--
They tremble on the main;
But dark, within my floating cell,
To me they smile in vain.

'Thy folded mantle wraps thee warm,
Thy clustering locks are dry,
Thou dost not hear the shrieking gust,
Nor breakers booming high.

'As o'er thy sweet unconscious face
A mournful watch I keep,
I think, didst thou but know thy fate,
How thou wouldst also weep.

'Yet, dear one, sleep, and sleep, ye winds
That vex the restless brine--
When shall these eyes, my babe, be sealed
As peacefully as thine!'

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Submitted on May 13, 2011

Modified on March 05, 2023

43 sec read
115

Quick analysis:

Scheme XAXA XBXB XCXC XDXD XEXE XBXB
Closest metre Iambic tetrameter
Characters 777
Words 142
Stanzas 6
Stanza Lengths 4, 4, 4, 4, 4, 4

William Cullen Bryant

William Cullen Bryant was an American romantic poet, journalist, and long-time editor of the New York Evening Post. more…

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    "Version Of A Fragment Of Simonides" Poetry.com. STANDS4 LLC, 2024. Web. 19 Apr. 2024. <https://www.poetry.com/poem/40394/version-of-a-fragment-of-simonides>.

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