English I Honors Poetry Project
by Mina Chanakira
Before the World Intruded
By: Michele Rosenthal
Return me to those infant years, (A)
before I woke from sleep, (B)
when ideas were oceans crashing, (C)
my dreams blank shores of sand. (D)
Transport me fast to who I was (E)
when breath was fresh as sight, (F)
my new parts — unfragmented — (G)
shielded faith from unkind light. (F)
Draw for me a figure whole, so different (H)
from who I am. Show me now (I)
this picture: who I was (J)
when I began. (D)
The Rhyme Scheme
Tone of the Poem
Theme of the Poem
Image Citation
Memory
MY childhood's home I see again, (A)
And sadden with the view; (B)
And still, as memory crowds my brain, (A)
There's pleasure in it, too. (B)
'Twixt earth and paradise, (D)
Where things decayed and loved ones lost (E)
In dreamy shadows rise, (D)
And, freed from all that's earthly, vile, (F)
Seem hallowed, pure and bright, (G)
Like scenes in some enchanted isle (F)
All bathed in liquid light. (G)
As dusky mountains please the eye (H)
When twilight chases day; (I)
As bugle notes that, passing by, (H)
In distance die away; (I)
As, leaving some grand waterfall, (J)
We, lingering, list its roar- (K)
So memory will hallow all (J)
We've known but know no more. (K)
Since here I bid farewell (M)
To woods and fields, and scenes of play, (L)
And playmates loved so well. (M)
Of old familiar things, (N)
But seeing them to mind again (A)
The lost and absent brings. (N)
How changed, as time has sped! (O)
Young childhood grown, strong manhood gray; (L)
And half of all are dead. (O)
How nought from death could save, (P)
Till every sound appear a knell (M)
And every spot a grave. (P)
And pace the hollow rooms, (Q)
And feel (companion of the dead) (O)
I'm living in the tombs. (Q)