Skip to content
Linespedia

Off Rough Point.

By Emma Lazarus

Topics: classic

We sat at twilight nigh the sea,         The fog hung gray and weird.     Through the thick film uncannily         The broken moon appeared.     We heard the billows crack and plunge,         We saw nor waves nor ships.     Earth sucked the vapors like a sponge,         The salt spray wet our lips.     Closer the woof of white mist drew,         Before, behind, beside.     How could that phantom moon break through,         Above that shrouded tide?     The roaring waters filled the ear,         A white blank foiled the sight.     Close-gathering shadows near, more near,         Brought the blind, awful night.     O friends who passed unseen, unknown!         O dashing, troubled sea!     Still stand we on a rock alone,     Walled round by mystery.

AI analysis available. Enable JavaScript to interact.

About this line

"We sat at twilight nigh the sea,..."

Emma Lazarus's contribution to classic is further solidified by the brilliance found in "Off Rough Point."... ### Why We Love This Line At Linespedia, we believe that poetry is the ultimate sanctuary for the soul...

Attribution & Rights

Author:Emma Lazarus

"We sat at twilight nigh the sea,..." by Emma Lazarus

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

Related lines

"It comes not in such wise as she had deemed,         Else might she still have clung to her despair.     More tender, grateful than she could ha"

""Since that day till now our life is one unbroken paradise. We live a true brotherly life. Every evening after supper we take a seat under the mighty"

"O waters fresh and sweet and clear,     Where bathed her lovely frame,     Who seems the only lady unto me;     O gentle branch and dear,"

"Ten o'clock: the broken moon         Hangs not yet a half hour high,         Yellow as a shield of brass,     In the dewy air of June,"

"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"

Emma Lazarus

About Emma Lazarus

Emma Lazarus (1849–1887) was an American poet best known for "The New Colossus," whose lines "Give me your tired, your poor" are inscribed on the Statue of Liberty. She was an early advocate for Jewish refugees and anti-Semitism awareness.

Full Bibliography
Continue Reading

"It comes not in such wise as she had deemed,      ..."

Weekly Poetic Insight

Join our literary Sanctuary

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