Contrast
Robinson Jeffers 1887 (Allegheny) – 1962 (Carmel-by-the-Sea)
The world has many seas, Mediterranean, Atlantic, but
here is the shore of the one ocean.
And here the heavy future hangs like a cloud; the
enormous scene; the enormous games preparing
Weigh on the water and strain the rock; the stage is
here, the play is conceived; the players are
not found.
I saw on the Sierras, up the Kaweah valley above the
Moro rock, the mountain redwoods
Like red towers on the slopes of snow; about their
bases grew a bushery of Christmas green,
Firs and pines to be monuments for pilgrimage
In Europe; I remembered the Swiss forests, the dark
robes of Pilatus, no trunk like these there;
But these are underwood; they are only a shrubbery
about the boles of the trees.
Our people are clever and masterful;
They have powers in the mass, they accomplish marvels.
It is possible Time will make them before it
annuls them, but at present
There is not one memorable person, there is not one
mind to stand with the trees, one life with
the mountains.
Submitted by Holt
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Submitted on May 13, 2011
Modified on March 30, 2023
- 54 sec read
- 75 Views
Quick analysis:
Scheme | XABXXXX BXCXXXCXX XXXXAXX X |
---|---|
Closest metre | Iambic pentameter |
Characters | 1,103 |
Words | 181 |
Stanzas | 4 |
Stanza Lengths | 7, 9, 7, 1 |
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"Contrast" Poetry.com. STANDS4 LLC, 2024. Web. 13 Jun 2024. <https://www.poetry.com/poem/32786/contrast>.
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