Poetry Explorer- Classic Contemporary Poetry, HEREDITY, by THOMAS BAILEY ALDRICH



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HEREDITY, by             Poem Explanation     Poet Analysis     Poet's Biography
First Line: A soldier of the cromwell stamp
Last Line: To one, the quick, unreasoning heart.
Subject(s): Ancestors & Ancestry; Heritage; Heredity


A SOLDIER of the Cromwell stamp,
With sword and psalm-book by his side,
At home alike in church and camp:
Austere he lived, and smileless died.

But she, a creature soft and fine --
From Spain, some say, some say from France;
Within her veins leapt blood like wine --
She led her Roundhead lord a dance!

In Grantham church they lie asleep;
Just where, the verger may not know.
Strange that two hundred years should keep
The old ancestral fires aglow!

In me these two have met again;
To each my nature owes a part:
To one, the cool and reasoning brain;
To one, the quick, unreasoning heart.





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