“THE RETURN TO NATURE”
Reading edition
Histories of Modern Poetry
(I) PROMETHEUS
It was the south: mid-everything,
Mid-land, mid-summer, noon.
And deep within a limpid spring
The mirrored sun of June.
Splendour in freshness! Ah, who stole
This sun, this fire, from heaven?
He holds it shining in his soul,
Prometheus the forgiven.
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(II) THETIS
In her bright title poets dare
What the wild eye of fancy sees—
Similitude—the clear, the fair
Light mystery of images.
Round the blue sea I love the best
The argent foam played, slender, fleet;
I saw—past Wordsworth and the rest—
Her natural, Greek, and silver feet.
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