Skip to content
Linespedia

The Approach to St. Paul's

Topics: classic

Eastwards through busy streets I lingered on;     Jostled by anxious crowds, who, heart and brain,     Were so absorbed in dreams of Mammon-gain,     That they could spare no time to look upon     The sunset's gold and crimson fires, which shone     Blessing keen eyes and wrinkled brows in vain.     Right in my path stood out that solemn Fane     Whose soaring cupola of stern grey stone     Lifteth for awful beacon to the sky     The burning Cross: silent and sole amid     That ceaseless uproar, as a pyramid     Isled in its desert. The great throngs pressed by     Heedless and urgent: thus Religion towers     Above this sordid, restless life of ours.

AI analysis available. Enable JavaScript to interact.

About this line

"Eastwards through busy streets I lingered on;..."

"The Approach to St. Paul's" is a quintessential example of James Thomson - (Bysshe Vanolis)'s signature style... ### Why We Love This Line At Linespedia, we believe that poetry is the ultimate sanctuary for the soul...

Classified Tags

Related lines

"I saw thee once, I see thee now;     Thy pure young face, thy noble mien,     Thy truthful eyes, thy radiant brow;     All childlike, lovely, a"

"Last evening's huge lax clouds of turbid white     Grew dark and louring, burthened with the rain     Which that long wind monotonous all night"

"I.     What precious thing are you making fast     In all these silken lines?     And where and to whom will it go at last?     Such subtle knots"

"Sleepless himself to give to others sleep.     He giveth His beloved sleep.     I heard the sounding of the midnight hour;     The others one"

"Here morning in the ploughman's songs is met     Ere yet one footstep shows in all the sky,     And twilight in the east, a doubt as yet,     S"

"The Text is taken from Percy's Reliques (1765), vol. i. p. 71, 'given from two MS. copies, transmitted from Scotland.' Herd had a very similar bal"

Continue Reading

"I saw thee once, I see thee now;     Thy pure youn..."

Weekly Poetic Insight

Join our literary Sanctuary

Get the most inspiring lines, poetic analysis, and secret shayaris delivered to your inbox every Sunday.