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Walter de la Mare
Walter de la Mare (1873 - 1958 / Kent / England)
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Sir Walter de la Mare was born at Charlton, Kent, in the south of England, of well-to-do parents. His father, James Edward Delamaere, was an official .. more >>
45 poems of Walter de la Mare
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Silver

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  Slowly, silently, now the moon
Walks the night in her silver shoon;
This way, and that, she peers, and sees
Silver fruit upon silver trees;
One by one the casements catch
Her beams beneath the silvery thatch;
Couched in his kennel, like a log,
With paws of silver sleeps the dog;
From their shadowy cote the white breasts peep
Of doves in silver feathered sleep
A harvest mouse goes scampering by,
With silver claws, and silver eye;
And moveless fish in the water gleam,
By silver reeds in a silver stream.

Walter de la Mare


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Read poems about / on: silver, fish, dog, moon, water, sleep, night, fishing, tree

 
  Comments about this poem (Silver by Walter de la Mare )
Click here to write your comments about this poem (Silver by Walter de la Mare )
 
  Joanna Koomen  (7/8/2009 1:57:00 PM)

I have loved this poem since my early teens, whilst at boarding school in Dublin Eire.
It is one of the few I remember by heart..possibly the onomatopoeia.?
He is also one of my favourite poets. along with many others....Keats..Donne..Virgil..yeats..along with many other philosophers, who were also poets in their own right.
  Anne Martin  (6/9/2009 2:53:00 PM)

I won a speech competition at age 12 by reading this poem since then it has become a firm favourite
  Beki Birdsong  (12/24/2008 9:36:00 PM)

I <3 it wen I was readin it it sent shivers down my back
  Andrew Lockley  (8/29/2008 6:13:00 PM)

My favorite peom it inspired me to start writing.
  Amy Leung  (4/21/2007 2:03:00 PM)

Hey guys, does anyone have a SUMMARY of this poem?
can you send it to me please? thanks!
  Harry Williams  (4/3/2007 1:37:00 AM)

superb poem and it ryms! ! !
  Nakul Ranjan  (3/4/2007 4:33:00 AM)

I think ur the best poet writter
  Linda Armstrong  (11/28/2006 1:05:00 AM)

Julie-Like the Caterpillar in Alice in Wonderland, I must rear myself up to full height and admit that I am honored to write poetry for children, so eschew away. I eschew thesauri. I notice that I can read Lorca, so the Spanish words he uses must be pretty simple-but, ah! What he does with them...
  Linda Armstrong  (11/28/2006 12:57:00 AM)

Gentle readers,
This lovely piece is not just for children. The figure of speech you seek is an extended metaphor (and a bit of a joke-poets relish literary humor) . King Midas in the old Greek tale turned everything to gold with a touch of his finger, rendering it lifeless. The very feminine moon in this poem brushes everything with her feet, or with her glance. Everything she sees in the poem is sleeping, except the harvest mouse, which obliquely suggests Ceres, the goddess of the harvest, and her daughter, who spent a portion of the year with Hades in the Underworld (dark-but filled with treasure) .
In the line you quote, 'By silver reeds in a silver stream' the light on the water is being compared to precious metal-transformed by the touch of a personified, female moon. If you think a bit about the treasures available to a dreamer-the riches of the unconscious-you will realize that the moon here is something of a muse. Like an artist (or the poet himself) , she transforms the ordinary world into a paradise that is richly strange-or, for this mystic, as most poets are, reveals a bit of its true nature.

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2/9/2010 7:09:55 AM. #.34# You Are Here: Silver by Walter de la Mare

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