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Tuesday, September 2, 2014

A Gift



A Gift
By Amy Lowell

See! I give myself to you, Beloved!
My words are little jars
For you to take and put upon a shelf.
Their shapes are quaint and beautiful,
And they have many pleasant colours and lusters
To recommend them.
Also the scent from them fills the room
With sweetness of flowers and crushed grasses.

When I shall have given you the last one,
You will have the whole of me,
But I shall be dead.

  
 About This Poem
“A Gift” was originally published in Lowell’s second collection of poems, Sword Blades and Poppy Seeds (The Macmillan Company, 1914).

About This Poet
Amy Lowell was born in Brookline, Massachusetts, in 1874. Among her honors is the Pulitzer Prize in poetry. Lowell died in Brookline in May of 1925.
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4 comments:

  1. Michael DoddSeptember 2, 2014 at 8:56 AM

    I once lived across the road from her home in Brookline.

    ReplyDelete
  2. AnonymousSeptember 2, 2014 at 2:53 PM

    Ok surprise ending for me. I'll admit I don't often GET poetry but I initially read this as someone given themselves to another person piece by piece, secret by secret, torn down wall brick by brick until they have given all of themselves open, honest, raw, warts-and-all to their lover. Maybe it's because this is where my life is today. I'm slowly tearing away the protective walls, peeling back the onion and revealing and sharing and giving myself to another. When I'm finish, when I've revealed and given all of myself, I expect to be ALIVE more than any other time in my life. Somehow when I give myself to others, as scary and painful and difficult as it is at times, I find that I never lose any part of me but rather gain someone to share myself with.

    ReplyDelete
  3. AnonymousSeptember 2, 2014 at 7:29 PM

    Very interesting.

    Peace <3
    Jay

    ReplyDelete
  4. Joel L.September 2, 2014 at 10:30 PM

    And, for what it's worth, Amy, the sister of Harvard's President Lowell,an extreme homophobe, was a lesbian. This poem was written for a woman.

    ReplyDelete

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