{
 "id": "edgar-allan-poe/the-coliseum",
 "title": "The Coliseum",
 "ordinal": null,
 "subtitle": null,
 "poet": "Edgar Allan Poe",
 "poet_slug": "edgar-allan-poe",
 "language": "en",
 "book": "The Raven and Other Poems",
 "book_slug": "the-raven-and-other-poems",
 "book_kind": "volume",
 "sequence": 2,
 "container": null,
 "epigraph": null,
 "first_published": {
  "year": 1845,
  "venue": "The Raven and Other Poems (1845)",
  "note": "First located printing is this volume; an earlier periodical printing has not been established.",
  "uncertain": false,
  "sources": [
   "https://docsouth.unc.edu/southlit/poeraven/menu.html"
  ]
 },
 "source": {
  "kind": "standard-ebooks",
  "repo": "standardebooks/edgar-allan-poe_poetry",
  "file": "poetry.xhtml",
  "upstream": [
   "https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/2151",
   "https://en.wikisource.org/wiki/An_Acrostic",
   "https://en.wikisource.org/wiki/Elizabeth_(Poe)",
   "https://en.wikisource.org/wiki/Serenade_(Poe)",
   "https://archive.org/details/worksedgarallan00unkngoog",
   "https://archive.org/details/cu31924019520810",
   "https://archive.org/details/jstor-2915307"
  ],
  "rights": "public domain (SE dedication; underlying text pre-1931)"
 },
 "verification": {
  "level": "structural-only",
  "last_checked": "2026-08-12"
 },
 "stats": {
  "n_lines": 46,
  "n_stanzas": 4,
  "n_parts": 0,
  "longest_line_chars": 58,
  "max_indent": 0
 },
 "site_ready": true,
 "parts": [],
 "stanzas": [
  [
   {
    "text": "Type of the antique Rome! Rich reliquary",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Of lofty contemplation left to Time",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "By buried centuries of pomp and power!",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "At length⁠—at length⁠—after so many days",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Of weary pilgrimage and burning thirst,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "(Thirst for the springs of lore that in thee lie,)",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "I kneel, an altered and an humble man,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Amid thy shadows, and so drink within",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "My very soul thy grandeur, gloom, and glory!",
    "indent": 0
   }
  ],
  [
   {
    "text": "Vastness! and Age! and Memories of Eld!",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Silence! and Desolation! and dim Night!",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "I feel ye now⁠—I feel ye in your strength⁠—",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "O spells more sure than e’er Judaean king",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Taught in the gardens of Gethsemane!",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "O charms more potent than the rapt Chaldee",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Ever drew down from out the quiet stars!",
    "indent": 0
   }
  ],
  [
   {
    "text": "Here, where a hero fell, a column falls!",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Here, where the mimic eagle glared in gold,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "A midnight vigil holds the swarthy bat!",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Here, where the dames of Rome their gilded hair",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Waved to the wind, now wave the reed and thistle!",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Here, where on golden throne the monarch lolled,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Glides, spectre-like, unto his marble home,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Lit by the wan light of the hornèd moon,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "The swift and silent lizard of the stones!",
    "indent": 0
   }
  ],
  [
   {
    "text": "But stay! these walls⁠—these ivy-clad arcades⁠—",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "These mouldering plinths⁠—these sad and blackened shafts⁠—",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "These vague entablatures⁠—this crumbling frieze⁠—",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "These shattered cornices⁠—this wreck⁠—this ruin⁠—",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "These stones⁠—alas! these gray stones⁠—are they all⁠—",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "All of the famed, and the colossal left",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "By the corrosive Hours to Fate and me?",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "“Not all”⁠—the Echoes answer me⁠—“not all!",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Prophetic sounds and loud, arise forever",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "From us, and from all Ruin, unto the wise,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "As melody from Memnon to the Sun.",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "We rule the hearts of mightiest men⁠—we rule",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "With a despotic sway all giant minds.",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "We are not impotent⁠—we pallid stones.",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Not all our power is gone⁠—not all our fame⁠—",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Not all the magic of our high renown⁠—",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Not all the wonder that encircles us⁠—",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Not all the mysteries that in us lie⁠—",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Not all the memories that hang upon",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "And cling around about us as a garment,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Clothing us in a robe of more than glory.”",
    "indent": 0
   }
  ]
 ]
}