Classic and Contemporary Poetry

DESTINY, by MATTHEW ARNOLD Poet Analysis Poet's Biography
First Line: Why each is striving, from of old
Last Line: An aimless unallay'd desire.
Subject(s): Desire; Life

WHY each is striving, from of old,
To love more deeply than he can?
Still would be true, yet still grows cold?
--Ask of the Powers that sport with man!

They yok'd in him, for endless strife,
A heart of ice, a soul of fire;
And hurl'd him on the Field of Life,
An aimless unallay'd Desire.