A Sea-Side Walk

Elizabeth Barrett Browning 1806 (Kelloe) – 1861 (Florence)



We walked beside the sea,
After a day which perished silently
Of its own glory---like the Princess weird
Who, combating the Genius, scorched and seared,
Uttered with burning breath, 'Ho! victory!'
And sank adown, an heap of ashes pale;
     So runs the Arab tale.

     The sky above us showed
An universal and unmoving cloud,
On which, the cliffs permitted us to see
Only the outline of their majesty,
As master-minds, when gazed at by the crowd!
And, shining with a gloom, the water grey
     Swang in its moon-taught way.

     Nor moon nor stars were out.
They did not dare to tread so soon about,
Though trembling, in the footsteps of the sun.
The light was neither night's nor day's, but one
Which, life-like, had a beauty in its doubt;
And Silence's impassioned breathings round
     Seemed wandering into sound.

     O solemn-beating heart
Of nature! I have knowledge that thou art
Bound unto man's by cords he cannot sever---
And, what time they are slackened by him ever,
So to attest his own supernal part,
Still runneth thy vibration fast and strong,
     The slackened cord along.

     For though we never spoke
Of the grey water anal the shaded rock,---
Dark wave and stone, unconsciously, were fused
Into the plaintive speaking that we used,
Of absent friends and memories unforsook;
And, had we seen each other's face, we had
     Seen haply, each was sad.

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Submitted on May 13, 2011

Modified on May 03, 2023

1:11 min read
154

Quick analysis:

Scheme AABBACC XDAADEE FFGGFHH IIJJIKK XXLLKMM
Closest metre Iambic pentameter
Characters 1,344
Words 235
Stanzas 5
Stanza Lengths 7, 7, 7, 7, 7

Elizabeth Barrett Browning

Elizabeth Barrett Browning was one of the most prominent English poets of the Victorian era. more…

All Elizabeth Barrett Browning poems | Elizabeth Barrett Browning Books

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