The Vision of the Archangels

Rupert Brooke 1887 (Rugby) – 1915 (Aegean Sea)



Slowly up silent peaks, the white edge of the world,
Trod four archangels, clear against the unheeding sky,
Bearing, with quiet even steps, and great wings furled,
A little dingy coffin; where a child must lie,
It was so tiny. (Yet, you had fancied, God could never
Have bidden a child turn from the spring and the sunlight,
And shut him in that lonely shell, to drop for ever
Into the emptiness and silence, into the night.…)

They then from the sheer summit cast, and watched it fall,
Through unknown glooms, that frail black coffin—and therein
God’s little pitiful Body lying, worn and thin,
And curled up like some crumpled, lonely flower petal—
Till it was no more visible; then turned again
With sorrowful quiet faces downward to the plain.

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Submitted on May 13, 2011

Modified on May 02, 2023

39 sec read
83

Quick analysis:

Scheme ABABCDCD XEEXXX
Closest metre Iambic hexameter
Characters 757
Words 133
Stanzas 2
Stanza Lengths 8, 6

Rupert Brooke

Rupert Chawner Brooke was an English poet known for his idealistic war sonnets written during the First World War, especially "The Soldier". more…

All Rupert Brooke poems | Rupert Brooke Books

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