Poetry about the ruins and the past of our lives.
Randall Jarrell (American poet). ca 1945. Siegfried.
Thomas Stearns Eliot. 1920. Gerontion. In Poems, Alfred A. Knopf, New York.
John Dryden. 1685. Imitation of Horace. Book iii. Ode 29, line 71
Emily Dickinson. 1896 (posthumously printed). XLV. The Past.
From Leaves of Grasses, a little snippet on the dark, unfathomed past...
A snippet from Randall Jarrell's Siegfried (1945)
American poet Randall Jarrell, from Sigfried, 1945
A snippet from Emily Dickinson's poetry, posthumously printed in 1896.
The poem Society upon the Stanislaus was first published by American writer Bret Harte in 1912, and it joins our Archaeology Poetry anthology courtesy Geoff Carver.
An archaeology slam from Archaeology magazine.
This archaeological poem from Robert Louis Stevenson's A Child's Garden of Verses was suggested by faithful reader Diana M.
Lord Byron's 1815 poem about the Assyrians and Nineveh.
Sir Philip Sidney on why poets are better than historians.
David Wagoner's poem Archeological Notes first appeared in Light (volume 52/53), 2006.
Poetry about an Anasazi rock painting celebrating the 1054 supernova, from Paul Young.
In 1054 AD, a supernova fired off in the Crab Nebula; it is recorded on a piece of rock art in the famous Chaco Canyon. Poet Paul Young was inspired to write this poem after seeing the image at Chaco.
From "Childe Harold's Pilgrimage," Byron reports his feelings on seeing the Roman Coliseum.
As a rabid feminist and ex-English major, I normally think of Percy Shelley as "Mary Shelley's husband," but as gentle reader Sonja W points out, this is far too terrific a poem to ignore for our collection.
Poet David Mason ruminates on the reading of bones.
The master of the dark short story muses on the Roman Coliseum.
During the 19th century, many of the planet's great writers and poets wandered into the ruins of the ancient world. Ralph Waldo Emerson was one of them; The Sphinx is his poetical impression of the Old Kingdom Egyptian statue.
Walt Whitman muses on humanity's past; a snippet from "Leaves of Grass".
In this essay entitled "From Relics to Remains", Boston University literature professor Charles J. Rzepka discusses the influences of Stonehenge and 17th century archaeologist William Stukeley on the poet William Wordsworth, and how SStukeley's ideas are found in the poem The Thorn.
The Annals of Improbable Research recently printed several limericks based on the latest Taung child theory. Here are the winning entries, reprinted with permission; with, of course, a belated contribution from your guide who simply can't help herself.
