A Fairy Tale
Gilbert Keith Chesterton 1874 (Kensington, London) – 1936 (Beaconsfield, Buckinghamshire)
All things grew upwards, foul and fair:
The great trees fought and beat the air
With monstrous wings that would have flown;
But the old earth clung to her own,
Holding them back from heavenly wars,
Though every flower sprang at the stars.
But he broke free: while all things ceased,
Some hour increasing, he increased.
The town beneath him seemed a map,
Above the church he cocked his cap,
Above the cross his feather flew
Above the birds and still he grew.
The trees turned grass; the clouds were riven;
His feet were mountains lost in heaven;
Through strange new skies he rose alone,
The earth fell from him like a stone,
And his own limbs beneath him far
Seemed tapering down to touch a star.
He reared his head, shaggy and grim,
Staring among the cherubim;
The seven celestial floors he rent,
One crystal dome still o'er him bent:
Above his head, more clear than hope,
All heaven was a microscope.
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Submitted on August 03, 2020
Modified on March 25, 2023
- 50 sec read
- 27 Views
Quick analysis:
Scheme | AABBXX CCDDEE FFBBGG HHIIJJ |
---|---|
Closest metre | Iambic tetrameter |
Characters | 887 |
Words | 166 |
Stanzas | 4 |
Stanza Lengths | 6, 6, 6, 6 |
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"A Fairy Tale" Poetry.com. STANDS4 LLC, 2024. Web. 25 Apr. 2024. <https://www.poetry.com/poem/55450/a-fairy-tale>.
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