Poem
A good example of Helen Adam's verse with its striking use of language is "Margaretta's Rime":
- Margaretta's Rime
- In Amsterdam, that old city,
- Church bells tremble and cry;
- All day long their airy chiming
- Clavers across the sky.
- I am young in the old city,
- My heart dead in my breast.
- I hear the bells in the sky crying,
- "Every being is blest."
- In Amsterdam, that old city,
- Alone at a window I stand,
- A spangled garter my only clothing,
- A candle flame in my hand.
- The people who pass that lighted window,
- Looking me up and down,
- Know I am one more tourist trifle
- For sale in this famous town.
- Noon til dusk at the window waiting,
- Nights of fury and shame.
- I am young in an old city
- Playing an older game.
- I hear the bells in the sky crying
- To the dead heart in my breast,
- The gentle bells in the sky crying
- "Every being is blest."
Read more about this topic: Helen Adam
Famous quotes containing the word poem:
“A poem is like a person. Though it has a family tree, it is important not because of its ancestors but because of its individuality. The poem, like any human being, is something more than its most complete analysis. Like any human being, it gives a sense of unified individuality which no summary of its qualities can reproduce; and at the same time a sense of variety which is beyond satisfactory final analysis.”
—Donald Stauffer (b. 1930)
“The award of a pure gold medal for poetry would flatter the recipient unduly: no poem ever attains such carat purity.”
—Robert Graves (18951985)
“From this the poem springs: that we live in a place
That is not our own and, much more, not ourselves
And hard it is in spite of blazoned days.”
—Wallace Stevens (18791955)