The Mind

Plus Intra

by Algernon Charles Swinburne 1837–1909

From A Century of Roundels (1883)

The Mind

Soul within sense, immeasurable, obscure,
Insepulchred and deathless, through the dense
Deep elements may scarce be felt as pure
Soul within sense.

From depth and height by measurers left immense,
Through sound and shape and colour, comes the unsure
Vague utterance, fitful with supreme suspense.

All that may pass, and all that must endure,
Song speaks not, painting shews not: more intense
And keen than these, art wakes with music’s lure
Soul within sense.

MLA

Swinburne, Algernon Charles. “Plus Intra.” Poetry Codex, poetrycodex.com/poem/swinburne/639/.

Chicago

Swinburne, Algernon Charles. “Plus Intra.” Poetry Codex. https://poetrycodex.com/poem/swinburne/639/.

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