The Shell

James Stephens 1882 (Dublin) – 1950



AND then I pressed the shell
Close to my ear
And listened well,
And straightway like a bell
Came low and clear     
The slow, sad murmur of the distant seas,
Whipped by an icy breeze
Upon a shore
Wind-swept and desolate.
It was a sunless strand that never bore  
The footprint of a man,
Nor felt the weight
Since time began
Of any human quality or stir
Save what the dreary winds and waves incur.  
And in the hush of waters was the sound
Of pebbles rolling round,
For ever rolling with a hollow sound.
And bubbling sea-weeds as the waters go
Swish to and fro
Their long, cold tentacles of slimy grey.
There was no day,
Nor ever came a night
Setting the stars alight
To wonder at the moon:  
Was twilight only and the frightened croon,
Smitten to whimpers, of the dreary wind
And waves that journeyed blind-
And then I loosed my ear ... O, it was sweet
To hear a cart go jolting down the street.

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Submitted on May 13, 2011

Modified on May 03, 2023

51 sec read
456

Quick analysis:

Scheme ABAACDDEFEGHGIIJJJKKLLMMNNOOPP
Closest metre Iambic tetrameter
Characters 874
Words 171
Stanzas 1
Stanza Lengths 30

James Stephens

James Stephens was an Irish Republican and the founding member of an originally unnamed revolutionary organisation in Dublin on 17 March 1858, later to become known as the Irish Republican Brotherhood, also referred to as the Irish Revolutionary Brotherhood by contemporaries. more…

All James Stephens poems | James Stephens Books

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