Armand Barbes



Fire out of heaven, a flower of perfect fire,
  That where the roots of life are had its root
  And where the fruits of time are brought forth fruit;
A faith made flesh, a visible desire,
That heard the yet unbreathing years respire
  And speech break forth of centuries that sit mute
  Beyond all feebler footprint of pursuit;
That touched the highest of hope, and went up higher;
A heart love-wounded whereto love was law,
A soul reproachless without fear or flaw,
  A shining spirit without shadow of shame,
A memory made of all men's love and awe;
  Being disembodied, so thou be the same,
  What need, O soul, to sign thee with thy name?

All woes of all men sat upon thy soul
  And all their wrongs were heavy on thy head;
  With all their wounds thy heart was pierced and bled,
And in thy spirit as in a mourning scroll
The world's huge sorrows were inscribed by roll,
  All theirs on earth who serve and faint for bread,
  All banished men's, all theirs in prison dead,
Thy love had heart and sword-hand for the whole.
"This was my day of glory," didst thou say,
When, by the scaffold thou hadst hope to climb
For thy faith's sake, they brought thee respite; "Nay,
I shall not die then, I have missed my day."
  O hero, O our help, O head sublime,
  Thy day shall be commensurate with time.

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Submitted on May 13, 2011

Modified on March 05, 2023

1:13 min read
48

Quick analysis:

Scheme ABBAABBACCDXDD EFFEEFFEGHGGHH
Closest metre Iambic pentameter
Characters 1,278
Words 243
Stanzas 2
Stanza Lengths 14, 14

Algernon Charles Swinburne

Algernon Charles Swinburne was an English poet, playwright, novelist, and critic. He wrote several novels and collections of poetry such as Poems and Ballads, and contributed to the famous Eleventh Edition of the Encyclopædia Britannica. Swinburne wrote about many taboo topics, such as lesbianism, cannibalism, sado-masochism, and anti-theism. His poems have many common motifs, such as the ocean, time, and death. Several historical people are featured in his poems, such as Sappho ("Sapphics"), Anactoria ("Anactoria"), Jesus ("Hymn to Proserpine": Galilaee, La. "Galilean") and Catullus ("To Catullus"). more…

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