The Leper

By Nathaniel Parker Willis

“ROOM for the leper! room!” And as he came
The cry passed on,—“Room for the leper! room!”

And aside they stood,
Matron, and child, and pitiless manhood,—all
Who met him on his way,—and let him pass.
And onward through the open gate he came,
A leper with the ashes on his brow,
Sackcloth about his loins, and on his lip
A covering, stepping painfully and slow,
And with a difficult utterance, like one
Whose heart is with an iron nerve put down,
Crying, “Unclean! unclean!”

Day was breaking
When at the altar of the temple stood
The holy priest of God. The incense-lamp
Burned with a struggling light, and a low chant
Swelled through the hollow arches of the roof,
Like an articulate wail, and there, alone,
Wasted to ghastly thinness, Helon knelt.
The echoes of the melancholy strain
Died in the distant aisles, and he rose up,
Struggling with weakness, and bowed down his head
Unto the sprinkled ashes, and put off
His costly raiment for the leper’s garb,
And with the sackcloth round him, and his lip
Hid in a loathsome covering, stood still,
Waiting to hear his doom:—

“Depart! depart, O child
Of Israel, from the temple of thy God,
For he has smote thee with his chastening rod,
And to the desert wild
From all thou lov’st away thy feet must flee,
That from thy plague his people may be free.

“Depart! and come not near
The busy mart, the crowded city, more;
Nor set thy foot a human threshold o’er;
And stay thou not to hear
Voices that call thee in the way; and fly
From all who in the wilderness pass by.

“Wet not thy burning lip
In streams that to a human dwelling glide;
Nor rest thee where the covert fountains hide,
Nor kneel thee down to dip
The water where the pilgrim bends to drink,
By desert well, or river’s grassy brink.

“And pass not thou between
The weary traveller and the cooling breeze,
And lie not down to sleep beneath the trees
Where human tracks are seen;
Nor milk the goat that browseth on the plain
Nor pluck the standing corn or yellow grain.

“And now depart! and when
Thy heart is heavy, and thine eyes are dim,
Lift up thy prayer beseechingly to Him
Who, from the tribes of men,
Selected thee to feel his chastening rod.
Depart! O leper! and forget not God!”

And he went forth—alone! not one of all
The many whom he loved, nor she whose name
Was woven in the fibres of the heart
Breaking within him now, to come and speak
Comfort unto him. Yea, he went his way,
Sick and heart-broken and alone,—to die!
For God had cursed the leper!
It was noon,
And Helon knelt beside a stagnant pool
In the lone wilderness, and bathed his brow,
Hot with the burning leprosy, and touched
The loathsome water to his fevered lips,
Praying that he might be so blest,—to die!
Footsteps approached, and, with no strength to flee,
He drew the covering closer on his lip,
Crying, “Unclean! unclean!” and in the folds
Of the coarse sackcloth shrouding up his face,
He fell upon the earth till they should pass.
Nearer the stranger came, and, bending o’er
The leper’s prostrate form, pronounced his name.
—“Helon!”—the voice was like the master-tone
Of a rich instrument,—most strangely sweet;
And the dull pulses of disease awoke,
And for a moment beat beneath the hot
And leprous scales with a restoring thrill.
“Helon! arise!” and he forgot his curse,
And rose and stood before him.
Love and awe
Mingled in the regard of Helon’s eye
As he beheld the stranger. He was not
In costly raiment clad, nor on his brow
The symbol of a princely lineage wore;
No followers at his back, nor in his hand
Buckler or sword or spear,—yet in his mien
Command sat throned serene, and if he smiled,
A kingly condescension graced his lips
The lion would have crouched to in his lair.
His garb was simple, and his sandals worn;
His stature modelled with a perfect grace;
His countenance, the impress of a God,
Touched with the open innocence of a child;
His eye was blue and calm, as is the sky
In the serenest noon; his hair unshorn
Fell to his shoulders; and his curling beard
The fulness of perfected manhood bore.
He looked on Helon earnestly awhile,
As if his heart was moved, and, stooping down,
He took a little water in his hand
And laid it on his brow, and said, “Be clean!”
And lo! the scales fell from him, and his blood
Coursed with delicious coolness through his veins,
And his dry palms grew moist, and on his brow
The dewy softness of an infant’s stole.
His leprosy was cleansed, and he fell down
Prostrate at Jesus’ feet, and worshipped him.

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Famous-Poems-quiz

Famous Poems: 20 Multiple-Choice Questions

1 / 20

"Two roads diverged in a wood, 

and I - I took the one less travelled by, 

And that has made all the difference." 

 

- Who is the author of this poem?

2 / 20

"A Contribution to Statistics" is a famous poem by Wislawa Szymborska. What is the next line of this poem after "Out of a hundred people"?

3 / 20

"Water, water, everywhere, 

And all the boards did shrink; 

Water, water, everywhere, 

Nor any drop to drink."

 

 - What is the title of this poem?

4 / 20

"The Second Coming" is a famous poem by William Butler Yeats. What is the next line of this poem after "Things fall apart; the centre cannot hold"?

5 / 20

"Ozymandias" is a famous poem by Percy Bysshe Shelley. What is the next line of this poem after "I met a traveller from an antique land"?

6 / 20

"Shall I compare thee to a summer's day?" is a famous sonnet by William Shakespeare. What is the next line of this poem after "Thou art more lovely and more temperate:"?

7 / 20

"Still I Rise" is a famous poem by Maya Angelou. What is the next line of this poem after "You may shoot me with your words"?

8 / 20

"O Captain! My Captain! 

our fearful trip is done, 

The ship has weathered every rack, 

the prize we sought is won."

 

 - Who is the author of this poem?

9 / 20

"The woods are lovely, dark and deep, 

But I have promises to keep, 

And miles to go before I sleep, 

And miles to go before I sleep."

 

 - What is the title of this poem?

10 / 20

"Tyger Tyger, burning bright, In the forests of the night;"

- What is the next line of this poem by William Blake?

11 / 20

"How do I love thee? Let me count the ways.

I love thee to the depth and breadth and height My soul can reach."

 

- Who is the author of this poem?

12 / 20

"Because I could not stop for Death – 

He kindly stopped for me – 

The Carriage held but just Ourselves – 

And Immortality." 

 

- What is the title of this poem?

 

 - Who is the author of this poem?

13 / 20

"The Moon" is a famous poem by Sappho. What is the next line of this poem after "But when you fail to meet me"?

14 / 20

"Hope is the thing with feathers That perches in the soul, And sings the tune without the words, And never stops at all." 

- Who is the author of this poem?

15 / 20

"Sonnet 29" is a famous sonnet by William Shakespeare. What is the next line of this poem after "When, in disgrace with fortune and men's eyes,"?

16 / 20

"Because I could not be with you, I will write across the page the words I was too afraid to speak, I was too afraid to stay, I was too afraid to leave."

 

- What is the title of this poem?

17 / 20

"Two roads diverged in a wood, and I - I took the one less traveled by,"

- What is the next line of this poem by Robert Frost?

18 / 20

"Do not stand at my grave and weep, I am not there; I do not sleep. I am a thousand winds that blow, I am the diamond glints on snow."

 

- What is the title of this poem?

19 / 20

"The world is too much with us; late and soon, Getting and spending, we lay waste our powers; Little we see in Nature that is ours; We have given our hearts away, a sordid boon!"

- Who is the author of this poem?

20 / 20

"Daddy" is a famous poem by Sylvia Plath. What is the next line of this poem after "You do not do, you do not do / Any more, black shoe"?

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Forms-Of-Poetry-Quiz

Forms Of Poetry: 20 Multiple-Choice Questions

1 / 20

What is the name of the poetic form consisting of 17 syllables arranged in three lines of 5, 7, and 5 syllables?

2 / 20

What is the name of the poetic form in which two rhyming lines of iambic pentameter are followed by a rhyming line of iambic tetrameter?

3 / 20

What is the name of the poetic form that uses the repetition of a single word or phrase at the end of each line, and can be as short as three lines or as long as multiple stanzas?

4 / 20

Which of the following poetic forms consists of a three-line stanza, with a syllable count of 5-7-5, but also includes a two-line stanza at the end, with a syllable count of 7-7?

5 / 20

What is the name of the poetic form in which each line or stanza repeats the same sequence of words, but in reverse order?

6 / 20

Which of the following poetic forms is characterized by alternating lines of iambic tetrameter and iambic trimeter, with a rhyme scheme of A-B-A-B?

7 / 20

Which of the following poetic forms is characterized by a repeated refrain, alternating with a series of quatrains, with a final quatrain as a coda?

8 / 20

What is the name of the poetic form in which the poem's shape on the page reflects its subject matter?

9 / 20

Which of the following poetic forms originated in Italy?

10 / 20

What is the name of the poetic form consisting of two lines, with the first line asking a question and the second line providing an answer?

11 / 20

What is the name of the poetic form in which a single poem is created by combining lines from multiple different poems, typically by different authors?

12 / 20

What is the name of the poetic form consisting of a single line, typically with a specific syllable count or word limit, and often used to convey a strong emotion or idea?

13 / 20

Which of the following poetic forms is characterized by three-line stanzas, with a syllable count of 5-7-5 and a seasonal reference?

14 / 20

Which of the following poetic forms is characterized by a poem that describes or meditates on the natural world, often using vivid imagery and sensory language?

15 / 20

What is the name of the poetic form in which the last word of each line is repeated throughout the poem?

16 / 20

Which of the following poetic forms consists of a series of six-line stanzas, with a specific rhyme scheme and the repetition of certain end words throughout the poem?

17 / 20

What is the name of the poetic form in which each line contains the same number of syllables?

18 / 20

Which of the following poetic forms is characterized by three-line stanzas, with the second line repeating as the last line of the previous stanza?

19 / 20

Which of the following is NOT a form of Japanese poetry?

20 / 20

What is the name of the poetic form consisting of a six-line stanza, with a rhyme scheme of A-A-B-B-C-C and a syllable count of 8-8-5-5-8-8?

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