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Classic and Contemporary Poetry
PROGRESS, by FRANCIS OSBERT SACHEVERELL SITWELL Poet Analysis Poet's Biography First Line: The city's heat is like a leaden pall Last Line: Were lovely as the jewelled butterflies. Alternate Author Name(s): Sitwell, Sir Osbert; Sitwell, Osbert | |||
The city's heat is like a leaden pall -- Its lowered lamps glow in the midnight air Like mammoth orange-moths that flit and flare Through the dark tapestry of night. The tall Black houses crush the creeping beggars down, Who walk beneath and think of breezes cool, Of silver bodies bathing in a pool; Or trees that whisper in some far, small town Whose quiet nursed them, when they thought that Was merely metal, not a grave of mould In which men bury all that's fine and fair. When they could chase the jewelled butterfly Through the green bracken-scented lanes or sigh For all the future held so rich and rare; When, though they knew it not, their baby cries Were lovely as the jewelled butterflies. | Discover our Poem Explanations and Poet Analyses!Other Poems of Interest...THE QUARREL by KATHERINE MANSFIELD THE CRUEL MISTRESS by THOMAS CAREW EASTER WINGS by GEORGE HERBERT THE LITANY [TO THE HOLY SPIRIT] by ROBERT HERRICK THE MARCH INTO VIRGINIA by HERMAN MELVILLE DIRGE IN WOODS by GEORGE MEREDITH PEARLS OF THE FAITH: 10. AL-JABBAR by EDWIN ARNOLD |
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