Jabberwocky

Related poetry:

1. Preface to Hunting of the Snark PREFACE If – and the thing is wildly possible – the charge of writing Nonsense were ever brought against the author of this brief but Instructive poem, it would be based, I feel convinced, on the line ”Then the bowsprit got mixed with the rudder sometimes” In view of this painful possibility, I will not […]...
2. The Genius Of The Crowd there is enough treachery, hatred violence absurdity in the average Human being to supply any given army on any given day And the best at murder are those who preach against it And the best at hate are those who preach love And the best at war finally are those who preach peace Those who […]...
3. In Examination Lo! from quiet skies In through the window my Lord the Sun! And my eyes Were dazzled and drunk with the misty gold, The golden glory that drowned and crowned me Eddied and swayed through the room. . . Around me, To left and to right, Hunched figures and old, Dull blear-eyed scribbling fools, grew […]...
4. Fit the Third ( Hunting of the Snark ) The Baker’s Tale They roused him with muffins they roused him with ice They roused him with mustard and cress They roused him with jam and judicious advice They set him conundrums to guess. When at length he sat up and was able to speak, His sad story he offered to tell; And the Bellman […]...
5. PRESERVATION My maiden she proved false to me; To hate all joys I soon began, Then to a flowing stream I ran, The stream ran past me hastily. There stood I fix’d, in mute despair; My head swam round as in a dream; I well-nigh fell into the stream, And earth seem’d with me whirling there. […]...
6. The jaffa and jerusalem railway A tortuous double iron track; a station here, a station there; A locomotive, tender, tanks; a coach with stiff reclining chair; Some postal cars, and baggage, too; a vestibule of patent make; With buffers, duffers, switches, and the soughing automatic brake This is the Orient’s novel pride, and Syria’s gaudiest modern gem: The railway scheme […]...
7. To a Dead Poet I knew not if to laugh or weep; They sat and talked of you “‘Twas here he sat; ’twas this he said! ‘Twas that he used to do. “Here is the book wherein he read, The room wherein he dwelt; And he” (they said) “was such a man, Such things he thought and felt.” I […]...
8. THE YUKON THE moon resumed all heaven now, She shepherded the stars below Along her wide, white steeps of snow, Nor stooped nor rested, where or how. She bared her full white breast, she dared The sun e’er show his face again. She seemed to know no change, she kept Carousal constantly, nor slept, Nor turned aside […]...
9. Julot The Apache You’ve heard of Julot the apache, and Gigolette, his mome. . . . Montmartre was their hunting-ground, but Belville was their home. A little chap just like a boy, with smudgy black mustache, Yet there was nothing juvenile in Julot the apache. From head to heel as tough as steel, as nimble as a cat, […]...
10. A Strange Wild Song He thought he saw an Elephant That practised on a fife: He looked again, and found it was A letter from his wife. “At length I realize,” he said, “The bitterness of life!” He thought he saw a Buffalo Upon the chimney-piece: He looked again, and found it was His Sister’s Husband’s Niece. “Unless you […]...
11. The Philosopher, the Young Man, and his Statue A Fond Athenian Mother brought A Sculptor to indulge her Thought, And carve her Only Son; Who to such strange perfection wrought, That every Eye the Statue caught Nor ought was left undone. A youthful Smile adorn’d the Face, The polish gave that Smile a Grace; And through the Marble reigns (Which well the Artist’s […]...
12. The Hunting Of The Snark Dedication Inscribed to a dear Child: In memory of golden summer hours And whispers of a summer sea. Girt with a boyish garb for boyish task, Eager she wields her spade; yet loves as well Rest on a friendly knee, intent to ask The tale he loves to tell. Rude spirits of the seething outer […]...
13. For The Foxes don’t feel sorry for me. I am a competent, Satisfied human being. Be sorry for the others Who Fidget Complain Who Constantly Rearrange their Lives Like Furniture. Juggling mates And Attitudes Their Confusion is Constant And it will Touch Whoever they Deal with. Beware of them: One of their Key words is “love.” And beware […]...
14. 256. Song-Beware o' Bonie Ann YE gallants bright, I rede you right, Beware o’ bonie Ann; Her comely face sae fu’ o’ grace, Your heart she will trepan: Her een sae bright, like stars by night, Her skin sae like the swan; Sae jimply lac’d her genty waist, That sweetly ye might span. Youth, Grace, and Love attendant move, And […]...
15. The Gyres The gyres! the gyres! Old Rocky Face, look forth; Things thought too long can be no longer thought, For beauty dies of beauty, worth of worth, And ancient lineaments are blotted out. Irrational streams of blood are staining earth; Empedocles has thrown all things about; Hector is dead and there’s a light in Troy; We […]...
16. The Mad Gardener's Song He thought he saw an Elephant, That practised on a fife: He looked again, and found it was A letter from his wife. ‘At length I realise,’ he said, The bitterness of Life!’ He thought he saw a Buffalo Upon the chimney-piece: He looked again, and found it was His Sister’s Husband’s Niece. ‘Unless you […]...
17. Loitering with a Vacant Eye Loitering with a vacant eye Along the Grecian gallery, And brooding on my heavy ill, I met a statue standing still. Still in marble stone stood he, And stedfastly he looked at me. “Well met,” I thought the look would say, “We both were fashioned far away; We neither knew, when we were young, These […]...
18. Robert Southey Burke I spent my money trying to elect you Mayor A. D. Blood. I lavished my admiration upon you, You were to my mind the almost perfect man. You devoured my personality, And the idealism of my youth, And the strength of a high-souled fealty. And all my hopes for the world, And all my beliefs […]...
19. Demos I All you that are enamored of my name And least intent on what most I require, Beware; for my design and your desire, Deplorably, are not as yet the same. Beware, I say, the failure and the shame Of losing that for which you now aspire So blindly, and of hazarding entire The gift […]...
20. I never told the buried gold I never told the buried gold Upon the hill that lies I saw the sun his plunder done Crouch low to guard his prize. He stood as near As stood you here A pace had been between Did but a snake bisect the brake My life had forfeit been. That was a wondrous booty I […]...
21. To my small Hearth His fire came To my small Hearth His fire came And all my House aglow Did fan and rock, with sudden light ‘Twas Sunrise ’twas the Sky Impanelled from no Summer brief With limit of Decay ‘Twas Noon without the News of Night Nay, Nature, it was Day...
22. Excelsior The shades of night were falling fast, As through an Alpine village passed A youth, who bore, ‘mid snow and ice, A banner with the strange device, Excelsior! His brow was sad; his eye beneath, Flashed like a falchion from its sheath, And like a silver clarion rung The accents of that unknown tongue, Excelsior! […]...
23. No, Not More Welcome No, not more welcome the fairy numbers Of music fall on the sleeper’s ear, When half awaking from fearful slumbers, He thinks the full quire of heaven is near Than came that voice, when, all forsaken, This heart long had sleeping lain, Nor thought its cold pulse would ever waken To such benign blessed sounds […]...
24. Witchcraft was hung, in History ‘Twas such a little little boat That toddled down the bay! ‘Twas such a gallant gallant sea That beckoned it away! ‘Twas such a greedy, greedy wave That licked it from the Coast Nor ever guessed the stately sails My little craft was lost!...
25. A Boundless Moment He halted in the wind, and what was that Far in the maples, pale, but not a ghost? He stood there bringing March against his thought, And yet too ready to believe the most. ‘Oh, that’s the Paradise-in-bloom,’ I said; And truly it was fair enough for flowers Had we but in us to assume […]...
26. The Stars are old, that stood for me The Stars are old, that stood for me The West a little worn Yet newer glows the only Gold I ever cared to earn Presuming on that lone result Her infinite disdain But vanquished her with my defeat ‘Twas Victory was slain....
27. Little Brother Wars have been and wars will be Till the human race is run; Battles red by land and sea, Never peace beneath the sun. I am old and little care; I’ll be cold, my lips be dumb: Brother mine, beware, beware. . . Evil looms the wrath to come. Eastern skies are dark with strife, […]...
28. The Day that I was crowned The Day that I was crowned Was like the other Days Until the Coronation came And then ’twas Otherwise As Carbon in the Coal And Carbon in the Gem Are One and yet the former Were dull for Diadem I rose, and all was plain But when the Day declined Myself and It, in Majesty […]...
29. 'Twas Love not me ‘Twas Love not me Oh punish pray The Real one died for Thee Just Him not me Such Guilt to love Thee most! Doom it beyond the Rest Forgive it last ‘Twas base as Jesus most! Let Justice not mistake We Two looked so alike Which was the Guilty Sake ‘Twas Love’s Now Strike!...
30. A Dying Tiger moaned for Drink A Dying Tiger moaned for Drink I hunted all the Sand I caught the Dripping of a Rock And bore it in my Hand His Mighty Balls in death were thick But searching I could see A Vision on the Retina Of Water and of me ‘Twas not my blame who sped too slow ‘Twas […]...
31. The Casterbridge Captains THREE captains went to Indian wars, And only one returned: Their mate of yore, he singly wore The laurels all had earned. At home he sought the ancient aisle Wherein, untrumped of fame, The three had sat in pupilage, And each had carved his name. The names, rough-hewn, of equal size, Stood on the panel […]...
32. 'Twas just this time, last year, I died ‘Twas just this time, last year, I died. I know I heard the Corn, When I was carried by the Farms It had the Tassels on I thought how yellow it would look When Richard went to mill And then, I wanted to get out, But something held my will. I thought just how Red […]...
33. A Thought went up my mind today A Thought went up my mind today That I have had before But did not finish some way back I could not fix the Year Nor where it went nor why it came The second time to me Nor definitely, what it was Have I the Art to say But somewhere in my Soul I […]...
34. Goodbye She stood at the window. There was A sound, a light. She stood at the window. A face. Was it that she was looking for, He thought. Was it that She was looking for. He said, Turn from it, turn From it. The pain is Not unpainful. Turn from it. The act of her anger, […]...
35. The Evil Eye It comes oozing Out of flowers at night, It comes out of the rain If a snake looks skyward, It comes out of chairs and tables If you don’t point at them and say their names. It comes into your mouth while you sleep, Pressing in like a washcloth. Beware. Beware. If you meet a […]...
36. Giant Toad I am too big. Too big by far. Pity me. My eyes bulge and hurt. They are my one great beauty, even So. They see too much, above, below. And yet, there is not much To see. The rain has stopped. The mist is gathering on my skin In drops. The drops run down my […]...
37. 158. Song-The Bonie Moor-hen THE HEATHER was blooming, the meadows were mawn, Our lads gaed a-hunting ae day at the dawn, O’er moors and o’er mosses and mony a glen, At length they discover’d a bonie moor-hen. Chorus.-I rede you, beware at the hunting, young men, I rede you, beware at the hunting, young men; Take some on the […]...
38. I had no Cause to be awake I had no Cause to be awake My Best was gone to sleep And Morn a new politeness took And failed to wake them up But called the others clear And passed their Curtains by Sweet Morning when I oversleep Knock Recollect to Me I looked at Sunrise Once And then I looked at Them […]...
39. Demon And Beast For certain minutes at the least That crafty demon and that loud beast That plague me day and night Ran out of my sight; Though I had long perned in the gyre, Between my hatred and desire. I saw my freedom won And all laugh in the sun. The glittering eyes in a death’s head […]...
40. On Wenlock Edge The Wood's In Trouble On Wenlock Edge the wood’s in trouble; His forest fleece the Wrekin heaves; The gale, it plies the saplings double, And thick on Severn snow the leaves. ‘Twould blow like this through holt and hanger When Uricon the city stood; ‘Tis the old wind in the old anger, But then it threshed another wood. Then, […]...