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Classic and Contemporary Poetry
TO A RAIL FENCE, by MARTHA LYMAN SHILLITO First Line: You used to stand in patterned, prim design Last Line: That marks the section-corner of your land. | |||
You used to stand in patterned, prim design Enclosing fields -- a zig-zag barricade Against an alien ploughshare, hoe or spade; With pride, you held your lands in close confine. Today come trooping vagrant stalk and vine. Soft-swaying fronds of ruffled gold invade September's calm, and brittled grasses wade The marsh where now, a remnant, you recline. Yet even in your sloven disarray, Bereft of power, encompassed by a host Of strange intruders, you can still withstand. One thing you guard until this very day: A sturdy, deeply-planted iron post That marks the section-corner of your land. | Discover our Poem Explanations and Poet Analyses!Other Poems of Interest...TO AN OLD CHIMNEY by MARTHA LYMAN SHILLITO EPISTLE TO JOHN LAPRAIK, AN OLD SCOTTISH BARD by ROBERT BURNS PRECIOUS WORDS by EMILY DICKINSON THE SONG OF HIAWATHA: HIAWATHA'S WOOING by HENRY WADSWORTH LONGFELLOW THE DEATH OF THE OLD YEAR by ALFRED TENNYSON THE REAR GUARD by IRENE FOWLER BROWN A ROMANCE OF THE GANGES by ELIZABETH BARRETT BROWNING |
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