Skip to content
Linespedia

Milton

By Henry Wadsworth Longfellow

Topics: classic

I pace the sounding sea-beach and behold         How the voluminous billows roll and run,         Upheaving and subsiding, while the sun         Shines through their sheeted emerald far unrolled,     And the ninth wave, slow gathering fold by fold         All its loose-flowing garments into one,         Plunges upon the shore, and floods the dun         Pale reach of sands, and changes them to gold.     So in majestic cadence rise and fall         The mighty undulations of thy song,         O sightless bard, England's Maeonides!     And ever and anon, high over all         Uplifted, a ninth wave superb and strong,         Floods all the soul with its melodious seas.

AI analysis available. Enable JavaScript to interact.

About this line

"I pace the sounding sea-beach and behold..."

Henry Wadsworth Longfellow's contribution to classic is further solidified by the brilliance found in "Milton"... ### Why We Love This Line At Linespedia, we believe that poetry is the ultimate sanctuary for the soul...

Attribution & Rights

Author:Henry Wadsworth Longfellow

"I pace the sounding sea-beach and behold..." by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow

For usage rights, copyright concerns, or to report an issue with this content, please visit our Copyright & Report page.

Related lines

"From the outskirts of the town         Where of old the mile-stone stood.     Now a stranger, looking down     I behold the shadowy crown"

"In those days said Hiawatha,     "Lo! how all things fade and perish!     From the memory of the old men     Pass away the great traditions,"

"Between the dark and the daylight,         When the night is beginning to lower,     Comes a pause in the day's occupations,      That is known"

"How beautiful is the rain!     After the dust and heat,     In the broad and fiery street,     In the narrow lane,     How beautiful is the ra"

"Here morning in the ploughman's songs is met     Ere yet one footstep shows in all the sky,     And twilight in the east, a doubt as yet,     S"

"The Text is taken from Percy's Reliques (1765), vol. i. p. 71, 'given from two MS. copies, transmitted from Scotland.' Herd had a very similar bal"

Henry Wadsworth Longfellow

About Henry Wadsworth Longfellow

Henry Wadsworth Longfellow (1807–1882) was the most popular American poet of the 19th century. His narrative poems—including "Paul Revere's Ride," "Evangeline," and "The Song of Hiawatha"—made poetry accessible to a mass audience and shaped American cultural identity.

Full Bibliography
Continue Reading

"From the outskirts of the town         Where of ol..."

Weekly Poetic Insight

Join our literary Sanctuary

Get the most inspiring lines, poetic analysis, and secret shayaris delivered to your inbox every Sunday.