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 "I Never Saw a Moor" |
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"I Never Saw a Moor" |
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I never saw a moor,
I never saw the sea;
Yet know I how the heather looks,
And what a wave must be.
I never spoke with God,
Nor visited in heaven;
Yet certain am I of the spot
As if the chart were given.
Commentary:
A moor is open land with heather and other wild plants on it. moors are not usually found in the United States. But beyond this one word, the rest of the poem is very simple. This simplicity contrasts with the complexity of the underlying thought, though. There are two things in the first stanza that the poet has never seen yet knows exists. The second stanza parallels this idea with two other things that she has never seen. The information in the first stanza demonstrates that one can know something without firsthand experience and makes us more willing to accept the ideas presented in the second stanza.
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