Critic and Poet: an Epilogue
Emma Lazarus 1849 (New York City) – 1887 (New York City)
("Poetry must be simple, sensuous, or impassioned; this man is neither simple, sensuous, nor impassioned; therefore he is not a poet")
No man had ever heard a nightingale,
When once a keen-eyed naturalist was stirred
To study and define--what is a bird,
To classify by rote and book, nor fail
To mark its structure and to note the scale
Whereon its song might possibly be heard.
Thus far, no farther;--so he spake the word.
When of a sudden,--hark, the nightingale!
Oh deeper, higher than he could divine
That all-unearthly, untaught strain! He saw
The plain, brown warbler, unabashed. "Not mine"
(He cried) "the error of this fatal flaw.
No bird is this, it soars beyond my line,
Were it a bird, 'twould answer to my law."
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Submitted on May 13, 2011
Modified on March 05, 2023
- 39 sec read
- 120 Views
Quick analysis:
Scheme | X ABBAABBA CDCDCD |
---|---|
Closest metre | Iambic hexameter |
Characters | 730 |
Words | 131 |
Stanzas | 3 |
Stanza Lengths | 1, 8, 6 |
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"Critic and Poet: an Epilogue" Poetry.com. STANDS4 LLC, 2024. Web. 19 Apr. 2024. <https://www.poetry.com/poem/12668/critic-and-poet:-an-epilogue>.
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