Poem “On seeing ‘The House of Julia’ at Herculaneum” by Ella Wheeler Wilcox

Poems of Progress and New Thought Pastels

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American Literature – American Poetry – Ella Wheeler Wilcox – Poems by Ella Wheeler Wilcox – Poems of Progress and New Thought Pastels
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On seeing ‘The House of Julia’ at Herculaneum

Not great Vesuvius, in all his ire,
Nor all the centuries, could hide your shame.
There is the little window where you came,
With eyes that woke the demon of desire,
And lips like rose leaves, fashioned out of fire;
And from the lava leaps the molten flame
Of your old sins. The walls cry out your name—
Your face seems rising from the funeral pyre.

There must have dwelt, within your fated town,
   Full many a virtuous dame, and noble wife
      Who made your beauty seem as star to sun;
How strange the centuries have handed down
   Your name, fair Julia, of immoral life,
      And left the others to oblivion.

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American Literature – American Poetry – Ella Wheeler Wilcox – Poems by Ella Wheeler Wilcox – Poems of Progress and New Thought Pastels

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Poems of Progress and New Thought Pastels

On seeing ‘The House of Julia’ at Herculaneum

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