With a Copy of Shakespeare's Sonnets on Leaving College

Alan Seeger 1888 (New York City) – 1916



As one of some fat tillage dispossessed,
Weighing the yield of these four faded years,
If any ask what fruit seems loveliest,
What lasting gold among the garnered ears, --
Ah, then I'll say what hours I had of thine,
Therein I reaped Time's richest revenue,
Read in thy text the sense of David's line,
Through thee achieved the love that Shakespeare knew.
Take then his book, laden with mine own love
As flowers made sweeter by deep-drunken rain,
That when years sunder and between us move
Wide waters, and less kindly bonds constrain,
Thou may'st turn here, dear boy, and reading see
Some part of what thy friend once felt for thee.

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Submitted on May 13, 2011

Modified on March 05, 2023

35 sec read
68

Quick analysis:

Scheme ABABCDCDEFGFHH
Closest metre Iambic pentameter
Characters 641
Words 115
Stanzas 1
Stanza Lengths 14

Alan Seeger

Alan Seeger was an American poet who fought and died in World War I during the Battle of the Somme serving in the French Foreign Legion. more…

All Alan Seeger poems | Alan Seeger Books

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