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Sonnets XI

Topics: classic

As to some lovely temple, tenantless              Long since, that once was sweet with shivering brass,              Knowing well its altars ruined and the grass              Grown up between the stones, yet from excess              Of grief hard driven, or great loneliness,              The worshiper returns, and those who pass              Marvel him crying on a name that was,--              So is it now with me in my distress.              Your body was a temple to Delight;              Cold are its ashes whence the breath is fled,              Yet here one time your spirit was wont to move;              Here might I hope to find you day or night,              And here I come to look for you, my love,              Even now, foolishly, knowing you are dead.

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"As to some lovely temple, tenantless..."

"Sonnets XI" is a quintessential example of Edna St. Vincent Millay's signature style... ### Why We Love This Line At Linespedia, we believe that poetry is the ultimate sanctuary for the soul...

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"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"

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"Cut if you will, with Sleep's dull knife,         ..."

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