Classic and Contemporary Poetry
CEREMONIAL ODE; INTENDED FOR A UNIVERSITY, by LASCELLES ABERCROMBIE Poet Analysis Poet's Biography First Line: When from eternity were separate Last Line: And trade with his eternity. Subject(s): Leeds, University Of | ||||||||
I. WHEN from Eternity were separate The curdled element And gathered forces, and the world began, The Spirit that was shut and darkly blent Within this being, did the whole distress With blind desire after spaciousness. Into this yearning, strictly bound by Fate And closely natured, came like an open'd grate At last the Mind of Man, Letting the sky in, and a faculty To light the cell with lost Eternity. II. So commerce with the Infinite was regained: For upward grew Man's ken, Laying foundations deep in the ancient fen Where other life helpless and prone remained. With knowledge painfully quarried and hewn fair, Platforms of lore, and many a hanging stair Of strong imagination, Man has raised His Wisdom like the watch-towers of a town; That he, though fastened down By Fate, be with its cruelty not amazed, But be of outer vastness greatly aware. III. This, then, is yours: to build exultingly High, and yet more high, The knowledgeable towers above base wars And shameful surges reaching up to lay Dishonouring hands upon your work, and drag Down from uprightness your desires, to lag Among low places with a common gait. That so Man's mind, not conquered by his clay, May sit above his fate, Inhabiting the purpose of the stars, And trade with his Eternity. | Discover our Poem Explanations and Poet Analyses!Other Poems of Interest...EPITAPH by LASCELLES ABERCROMBIE RYTON FIRS by LASCELLES ABERCROMBIE AN ESCAPE by LASCELLES ABERCROMBIE BLIND by LASCELLES ABERCROMBIE DECEMBER 31ST by LASCELLES ABERCROMBIE EPITAPH by LASCELLES ABERCROMBIE HOPE AND DESPAIR by LASCELLES ABERCROMBIE INDIGNATION; AN ODE by LASCELLES ABERCROMBIE MARGARET'S SONG by LASCELLES ABERCROMBIE PEREGRINUS by LASCELLES ABERCROMBIE |
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