Faint Music

Walter de la Mare

 The meteor's arc of quiet; a voiceless rain;
 The mist's mute communing with a stagnant moat;
 The sigh of a flower that has neglected lain;
      That bell's unuttered note;

 A hidden self rebels, its slumber broken;
 Love secret as crystal forms within the womb;
 The heart may as faithfully beat, the vow unspoken;
      All sounds to silence come.

Commentary

All good poetry is magical in some way, but de la Mare’s poems have a specific kind of magic, instantly recognizable, yet near impossible to paraphrase or even parody. Certainly the precise blend of delicate phrasing and carefully-chosen subject material that characterizes his art may strike one as repetitive1, but as long as it works (and work it does, most of the time), who am I to cavil?

— Thomas

Minstrels Links

Walter de la Mare:
Poem #2, The Listeners
Poem #272, Napoleon
Poem #483, Brueghel’s Winter
Poem #725, Silver
Poem #1024, Faint Music

  1. I’m not sure I could read an entire volume of de la Mare’s poetry uninterrupted, but I do enjoy dipping into his work every now and then. ↩

The Wondering Minstrels, poem #1024 · 27 March 2002

Poem selected by Abraham Thomas

Fair use

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From the Wondering Minstrels mailing list, 1999–2008.

David Wright · 27 March 2002

Yes, oh yes, de la Mare is one of those great poets to pull down off the shelf and read aloud for a little while, to have your innards massaged with words. Dylan Thomas, Wm. Shakespeare - the plays, some of Milton, GM Hopkins, all great for that vocal physicality. Yes!

David Wright