Iona: The Graves Of The Kings

Robinson Jeffers 1887 (Allegheny) – 1962 (Carmel-by-the-Sea)



I wish not to lie here.
There's hardly a plot of earth not blessed for burial, but here
One might dream badly.

In beautiful seas a beautiful
And sainted island, but the dark earth so shallow on the rock
Gorged with bad meat.

Kings buried in the lee of the saint,
Kings of fierce Norway, blood-boltered Scotland, bitterly dreaming
Treacherous Ireland.

Imagine what delusions of grandeur,
What suspicion-agonized eyes, what jellies of arrogance and terror
This earth has absorbed.

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Submitted on May 13, 2011

Modified on April 18, 2023

24 sec read
347

Quick analysis:

Scheme AAX XXX XXX XXX
Closest metre Iambic pentameter
Characters 475
Words 81
Stanzas 4
Stanza Lengths 3, 3, 3, 3

Robinson Jeffers

John Robinson Jeffers was an American poet, known for his work about the central California coast. more…

All Robinson Jeffers poems | Robinson Jeffers Books

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