The Animals

Edwin Muir 1887 (Orkney) – 1959 (Cambridge)



They do not live in the world,
Are not in time and space.
From birth to death hurled
No word do they have, not one
To plant a foot upon,
Were never in any place.

For with names the world was called
Out of the empty air,
With names was built and walled,
Line and circle and square,
Dust and emerald;
Snatched from deceiving death
By the articulate breath.

But these have never trod
Twice the familiar track,
Never never turned back
Into the memoried day.
All is new and near
In the unchanging Here
Of the fifth great day of God,
That shall remain the same,
Never shall pass away.

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Submitted on May 13, 2011

Modified on April 20, 2023

33 sec read
192

Quick analysis:

Scheme ABAXXB CDCDXEE FGGHXXFXH
Closest metre Iambic trimeter
Characters 586
Words 113
Stanzas 3
Stanza Lengths 6, 7, 9

Edwin Muir

Edwin Muir was an Orcadian poet, novelist and translator, born on a farm in Deerness on the Orkney Islands. He is remembered for his deeply felt and vivid poetry in plain language with few stylistic preoccupations. more…

All Edwin Muir poems | Edwin Muir Books

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