Love's Castle

Paul Laurence Dunbar 1872 (Dayton) – 1906



Key and bar, key and bar,
Iron bolt and chain!
And what will you do when the King comes
To enter his domain?

Turn key and lift bar,
Loose, oh, bolt and chain!
Open the door and let him in,
And then lock up again.

But, oh, heart, and woe, heart,
Why do you ache so sore?
Never a moment's peace have you
Since Love hath passed the door.

Turn key and lift bar,
And loose bolt and chain;
But Love took in his esquire, Grief,
And there they both remain.

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Submitted on May 13, 2011

Modified on March 05, 2023

28 sec read
143

Quick analysis:

Scheme abxb Abxx xcxc Abxb
Closest metre Iambic trimeter
Characters 441
Words 93
Stanzas 4
Stanza Lengths 4, 4, 4, 4

Paul Laurence Dunbar

Paul Laurence Dunbar was a seminal American poet of the late 19th and early 20th centuries Dunbar gained national recognition for his 1896 Lyrics of a Lowly Life one poem in the collection being Ode to Ethiopia more…

All Paul Laurence Dunbar poems | Paul Laurence Dunbar Books

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    Who wrote the poem ״Invictus״?
    A William Ernest Henley
    B Sylvia Plath
    C Oscar Wilde
    D Thomas Hardy