George Eliot (1819-1880)
In a London Drawingroom
1The sky is cloudy, yellowed by the smoke.
2For view there are the houses opposite
3Cutting the sky with one long line of wall
4Like solid fog: far as the eye can stretch
5Monotony of surface & of form
6Without a break to hang a guess upon.
7No bird can make a shadow as it flies,
8For all is shadow, as in ways o'erhung
9By thickest canvass, where the golden rays
10Are clothed in hemp. No figure lingering
11Pauses to feed the hunger of the eye
12Or rest a little on the lap of life.
13All hurry on & look upon the ground,
14Or glance unmarking at the passers by
15The wheels are hurrying too, cabs, carriages
16All closed, in multiplied identity.
17The world seems one huge prison-house & court
18Where men are punished at the slightest cost,
19With lowest rate of colour, warmth & joy.
Online text copyright © 2009, Ian Lancashire (the Department of English) and the University of Toronto.
Published by the Web Development Group, Information Technology Services, University of Toronto Libraries.
Original text: Bernard J. Paris, "George Eliot's
Unpublished Poetry," Studies in Philology 56 (1959): 541-42.
Yale University Library MS Vault, Eliot 7, p. 1.
First publication date:
1959
RPO poem editor: Ian Lancashire
RP edition: 2001
Recent editing: 1:2002/10/5
Composition date:
1869
Rhyme: unrhyming
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