Blackberries :: :: University of Virginia Library

Blackberries

by William Allingham

Allingham, William (1824-1889)

[epigraph]

[dedication]

[section]

[The Poet's your only practical man]

[Rash is the man that woos]

[Bard makes not Poem, not the shortest one]

[I love all the masters of poesie]

[Not like Homer would I write]

[The loving Poet shapes his fine delight.]

[You cannot see in the world the work of the Poet's pen]

[What chiefly makes a poem? not opulence, nor grace]

[Through the harmony of words]

[The Bard sings Beauty, and what lies behind]

[No wonder if the accurate man]

[If you love not Poetry]

[Many for Poems care much, for Poesie little or nothing]

[Best Poesie, by very skill of words]

[section]

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[Each thinks himself exceptional]

Each thinks himself exceptional:
Ridiculous!—and yet sublime.
The individual may be small,
Yet individuality's the prime
Glory and hope of us poor Sons of Time.