A Ballad Of Past Meridian

George Meredith 1828 (Portsmouth, Hampshire) – 1909 (Box Hill, Surrey)



I

Last night returning from my twilight walk
I met the grey mist Death, whose eyeless brow
Was bent on me, and from his hand of chalk
He reached me flowers as from a withered bough:
O Death, what bitter nosegays givest thou!

II

Death said, I gather, and pursued his way.
Another stood by me, a shape in stone,
Sword-hacked and iron-stained, with breasts of clay,
And metal veins that sometimes fiery shone:
O Life, how naked and how hard when known!

III

Life said, As thou hast carved me, such am I.
Then memory, like the nightjar on the pine,
And sightless hope, a woodlark in night sky,
Joined notes of Death and Life till night's decline
Of Death, of Life, those inwound notes are mine.

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Submitted on May 13, 2011

Modified on March 05, 2023

39 sec read
86

Quick analysis:

Scheme XAXAA BCBCC DEDEE
Closest metre Iambic pentameter
Characters 680
Words 130
Stanzas 3
Stanza Lengths 5, 5, 5

George Meredith

George Meredith was an English novelist and poet of the Victorian era. He was nominated for the Nobel Prize in Literature seven times. more…

All George Meredith poems | George Meredith Books

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