The Last of the Books

Is it too strange to think
That, when all life at last from earth is gone,
And round the sun’s pale blink
Our desolate planet wheels its ice and stone,
Housed among storm-proof walls there yet may abide,
Defying long the venoms of decay,
A still dark throng of books, dumb books of song
And tenderest fancies born of youth and May?
A quiet remembering host,
Outliving the poor dust that gave them birth,
Unvisited by even a wandering ghost,
But treasuring still the music of our earth,
In little fading hieroglyphs they shall bear
Through death and night, the legend of our spring,
And how the lilac scented the bright air
When hearts throbbed warm, and lips could kiss and sing.
And, ere that record fail,
Strange voyagers from a mightier planet come
On wingèd ships that through the void can sail
And gently alight upon our ancient home;
Strange voices echo, and strange flares explore,
Strange hands, with curious weapons, burst these bars,
Lift the brown volumes to the light once more,
And bear their stranger secrets through the stars.
Alfred Noyes, Collected Poems Vol 4 (1927)

Alfred Noyes’s poem “The Last of the Books” examines the possible durability of literature and the memories it conjures in a moving and thought-provoking way. The poem imagines a future in which there is no longer any life on earth, and the globe is a lifeless wasteland. The poet speculates, however, that books might still survive in this world, housed in walls that are resistant to storms and deterioration.

In Noyes’ vision of the future, books are the final vestiges of human civilization, preserving oral histories, springtime myths, and other happy occasions. In this world, books are seen as “dumb books of song and tenderest fancies born of youth and May,” representing the innocence and beauty of human existence.

The poet suggests that the books will be discovered by “strange voyagers from a mightier planet,” who will arrive in winged ships and gently alight upon the planet’s ancient home. With the aid of their cutting-edge technology, these visitors from another planet will bring the brown volumes to the light and reveal the hidden treasures inside because they are fascinated by the books and the secrets they contain.