| Edmund Clarence Stedman, ed. (1833–1908). An American Anthology, 1787–1900. 1900. |
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| 707. Vision |
| | | By William Dean Howells |
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| WITHIN a poor man’s squalid home I stood: | |
| The one bare chamber, where his work-worn wife | |
| Above the stove and wash-tub passed her life, | |
| Next the sty where they slept with all their brood. | |
| But I saw not that sunless, breathless lair, | 5 |
| The chamber’s sagging roof and reeking floor; | |
| The smeared walls, broken sash, and battered door; | |
| The foulness and forlornness everywhere. | |
| I saw a great house with the portals wide | |
| Upon a banquet room, and, from without, | 10 |
| The guests descending in a brilliant line | |
| By the stair’s statued niches, and beside | |
| The loveliest of the gemmed and silken rout | |
| The poor man’s landlord leading down to dine. | |
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