Farewell and Thanksgiving

Mark Van Doren 1894 (Vermilion County) – 1972 (Torrington)



Whatever I have left unsaid
When I am dead
O'muse forgive me.
You were always there,
like light, like air.
Those great good things
of which the least bird sings,
So why not I?
Yet thank you even then,
Sweet muse, Amen.

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Submitted on May 13, 2011

Modified on March 14, 2023

13 sec read
95

Quick analysis:

Scheme AABCCDDEFF
Closest metre Iambic trimeter
Characters 218
Words 44
Stanzas 1
Stanza Lengths 10

Mark Van Doren

Mark Van Doren was an American poet, writer and a critic, apart from being a scholar and a professor of English at Columbia University for nearly 40 years, where he inspired a generation of influential writers and thinkers including Thomas Merton, Robert Lax, John Berryman, and Beat Generation writers such as Allen Ginsberg and Jack Kerouac. more…

All Mark Van Doren poems | Mark Van Doren Books

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