Classic and Contemporary Poetry
COURAGE, by MATTHEW ARNOLD Poet Analysis Poet's Biography First Line: True, we must tame our rebel will Last Line: Join'd to its clearness, of their force! Subject(s): Conformity | ||||||||
TRUE, we must tame our rebel will: True, we must bow to Nature's law: Must bear in silence many an ill; Must learn to wait, renounce, withdraw. Yet now, when boldest wills give place, When Fate and Circumstance are strong, And in their rush the human race Are swept, like huddling sheep, along; Those sterner spirits let me prize, Who, though the tendence of the whole They less than us might recognize, Kept, more than us, their strength of soul. Yes, be the second Cato prais'd! Not that he took the course to die-- But that, when 'gainst himself he rais'd His arm, he rais'd it dauntlessly. And, Byron! let us dare admire, If not thy fierce and turbid song, Yet that, in anguish, doubt, desire, Thy fiery courage still was strong. The sun that on thy tossing pain Did with such cold derision shine, He crush'd thee not with his disdain-- He had his glow, and thou hadst thine. Our bane, disguise it as we may, Is weakness, is a faltering course. Oh that past times could give our day, Join'd to its clearness, of their force! | Discover our Poem Explanations and Poet Analyses!Other Poems of Interest...WALKING THOUGHTS by MARVIN BELL THE SUBURBANS by CAROLYN KIZER THE UNKNOWN CITIZEN by WYSTAN HUGH AUDEN TO THOSE OF MY SISTERS WHO KEPT THEIR NATURALS by GWENDOLYN BROOKS DISILLUSIONMENT OF TEN O'CLOCK by WALLACE STEVENS CONFORMITY IS COMELY by ROBERT HERRICK MY LADY WITH THE DROOPING ROSE by CHARLES LOUIS HENRY WAGNER |
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