The Barren Shore

Coventry Patmore 1823 (Woodford, London) – 1896 (Lymington)



Full many sing to me and thee
Their riches gather'd by the sea;
But I will sing, for I'm footsore,
The burthen of the barren shore.
The hue of love how lively shown
In this sole found cerulean stone
By twenty leagues of ocean roar.
O, burthen of the barren shore!
And these few crystal fragments bright,
As clear as truth, as strong as right,
I found in footing twenty more.
O, burthen of the barren shore!
And how far did I go for this
Small, precious piece of ambergris?
Of weary leagues I went threescore.
O, burthen of the barren shore!
The sand is poor, the sea is rich,
And I, I am I know not which;
And well it were to know no more
The burthen of the barren shore!

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Submitted on May 13, 2011

Modified on March 05, 2023

40 sec read
57

Quick analysis:

Scheme aabBccbBddbBeebBffbB
Closest metre Iambic tetrameter
Characters 661
Words 134
Stanzas 1
Stanza Lengths 20

Coventry Patmore

Coventry Kersey Dighton Patmore was an English poet and critic best known for The Angel in the House, his narrative poem about an ideal happy marriage. more…

All Coventry Patmore poems | Coventry Patmore Books

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