University of Virginia Library

Search this document 
Poems by Alan Seeger

with an introduction by William Archer
Seeger, Alan (1886-1916)

collapse section 
JUVENILIA 1914
  
AN ODE TO NATURAL BEAUTY
  
THE DESERTED GARDEN
  
THE TORTURE OF CUAUHTEMOC
  
THE NYMPHOLEPT
  
THE WANDERER
  
THE NEED TO LOVE
  
EL EXTRAVIADO
  
LA NUE
  
ALL THAT'S NOT LOVE ...
  
PARIS
  
THE SULTAN'S PALACE
collapse section 
FRAGMENTS
 1. 
I
 2. 
II
 3. 
III
 4. 
IV
 1. 
SONNET I
 2. 
SONNET II
 3. 
SONNET III
 4. 
SONNET IV
 5. 
SONNET V
 6. 
SONNET VI
 7. 
SONNET VII
 8. 
SONNET VIII
 9. 
SONNET IX
 10. 
SONNET X
 11. 
SONNET XI
 12. 
SONNET XII
 13. 
SONNET XIII
 14. 
SONNET XIV
 15. 
SONNET XV
 16. 
SONNET XVI
  
KYRENAÏKOS
  
ANTINOUS
  
VIVIEN
  
I LOVED ...
  
VIRGINIBUS PUERISQUE ...
  
WITH A COPY OF SHAKESPEARE'S SONNETS ON LEAVING COLLEGE
  
WRITTEN IN A VOLUME OF THE COMTESSE DE NOAILLES
  
COUCY
  
TEZCOTZINCO
  
THE OLD LOWE HOUSE, STATEN ISLAND
  
ONEATA
  
ON THE CLIFFS, NEWPORT
  
TO ENGLAND AT THE OUTBREAK OF THE BALKAN WAR
  
AT THE TOMB OF NAPOLEON BEFORE THE ELECTIONS IN AMERICA—NOVEMBER, 1912
  
THE RENDEZVOUS
  
DO YOU REMEMBER ONCE ...
  
THE BAYADERE
  
EUDÆMON
  
BROCELIANDE
  
LYONESSE
  
TITHONUS
  
AN ODE TO ANTARES
collapse section 
LAST POEMS 1916
  
THE AISNE (1914–15)
  
CHAMPAGNE, 1914–15
  
THE HOSTS
  
MAKTOOB
  
I HAVE A RENDEZVOUS WITH DEATH ...
 1. 
SONNET I
 2. 
SONNET II
 3. 
SONNET III
 4. 
SONNET IV
 5. 
SONNET V
 6. 
SONNET VI
 7. 
SONNET VII
 8. 
SONNET VIII
 9. 
SONNET IX
 10. 
SONNET X
 11. 
SONNET XI
 12. 
SONNET XII
  
BELLINGLISE
  
LIEBESTOD
  
RESURGAM
  
A MESSAGE TO AMERICA
  
INTRODUCTION AND CONCLUSION OF A LONG POEM
  
ODE IN MEMORY OF THE AMERICAN VOLUNTEERS FALLEN FOR FRANCE

collapse section Collapse All | Expand All expand section
previous section Poems by Alan Seeger
next section
68

SONNET I

Down the strait vistas where a city street
Fades in pale dust and vaporous distances,
Stained with far fumes the light grows less and less
And the sky reddens round the day's retreat.
Now out of orient chambers, cool and sweet,
Like Nature's pure lustration, Dusk comes down.
Now the lamps brighten and the quickening town
Rings with the trample of returning feet.
And Pleasure, risen from her own warm mould
Sunk all the drowsy and unloved daylight
In layers of odorous softness, Paphian girls
Cover with gauze, with satin, and with pearls,
Crown, and about her spangly vestments fold
The ermine of the empire of the Night.
previous section Poems by Alan Seeger
next section