Poetry Explorer- Classic Contemporary Poetry, SHAKESPEARE, by MATTHEW ARNOLD


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Classic and Contemporary Poetry

SHAKESPEARE, by                 Poet Analysis     Poet's Biography
First Line: Others abide our question. Thou art free
Last Line: Find their sole voice in that victorious brow.
Subject(s): Dramatists; Plays & Playwrights ; Poetry & Poets; Shakespeare, William (1564-1616); Dramatists


Others abide our question. Thou art free.
We ask and ask - thou smilest and art still,
Out-topping knowledge. For the loftiest hill,
Who to the stars uncrowns his majesty,
Planting his stedfast footsteps in the sea,
Making the heaven of heavens his dwelling-place,
Spares but the cloudy border of his base
To the foiled searching of mortality;
And thou, who didst the stars and sunbeams know,
Self-schooled, self-scanned, self-honored, self-secure,
Didst tread on earth unguessed at - better so!
All pains the immortal spirit must endure,
All weakness that impairs, all griefs that bow,
Find their sole voice in that victorious brow.




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