My all time favorite ending is from Larkin's "Aubade" And, as others have mentioned, a Larkin ending rarely disappoints.
"Postmen go like doctors from house to house."
But I think you need the rest of the poem to really feel it.
As far as disappointing endings, Tintern Abbey always ends flat for me:
"Nor wilt thou then forget,
That after many wanderings, many years
Of absence, these steep woods and lofty cliffs,
And this green pastoral landscape, were to me
More dear, both for themselves and for thy sake!"
Actually, all the stuff to his sister is kind of blah after the fireworks of the middle of the poem.
End with a good image, and it's a good ending. End with a prescription, and you're in trouble.
Speaking of which, as far as good, there's always Wordsworth's worthy friend:
Beware ! Beware !
His flashing eyes, his floating hair !
Weave a circle round him thrice,
And close your eyes with holy dread,
For he on honey-dew hath fed,
And drunk the milk of Paradise.
-Dan
-Dan
|
Threaded Mode
