Classic and Contemporary Poetry
INDEPENDENCE, by HENRY DAVID THOREAU Poet Analysis Poet's Biography First Line: My life more civil is and free / than any civil polity Last Line: Wears its emblazonry. Subject(s): Freedom; Independence; Liberty | ||||||||
My life more civil is and free Than any civil polity. Ye princes keep your realms And circumscribed power, Not wide as are my dreams, Nor rich as is this hour. What can ye give which I have not? What can ye take which I have got? Can ye defend the dangerless? Can ye inherit nakedness? To all true wants times ear is deaf, Penurious states lend no relief Out of their pelf -- But a free soul -- thank God -- Can help itself. Be sure your fate Doth keep apart its state -- Not linked with any band -- Even the nobles of the land In tented fields with cloth of gold -- No place doth hold But is more chivalrous than they are. And sigheth for a nobler war. A finer strain its trumpet sings -- A brighter gleam its armor flings. The life that I aspire to live No man proposeth me -- No trade upon the street Wears its emblazonry. | Discover our Poem Explanations and Poet Analyses!Other Poems of Interest...LOVE THE WILD SWAN by ROBINSON JEFFERS AFTER TENNYSON by AMBROSE BIERCE QUARTET IN F MAJOR by WILLIAM MEREDITH CROSS THAT LINE by NAOMI SHIHAB NYE EMANCIPATION by ELIZABETH ALEXANDER |
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