Classic and Contemporary Poetry
HOW AND WHERE?, by ALICE CARY Poet Analysis Poet's Biography First Line: How are we living? Last Line: Expecting good things! Subject(s): Life | ||||||||
HOW are we living? Like herbs in a garden that stand in a row, And have nothing to do but to stand there and grow? Our powers of perceiving So dull and so dead, They simply extend to the objects about us, -- The moth, having all his dark pleasure without us, -- The worm in his bed! If thus we are living, And fading and falling, and rotting, alas! -- Like the grass, or the flowers that grow in the grass, -- Is life worth our having? The insect a-humming -- The wild bird is better, that sings as it flies, -- The ox, that turns up his great face to the skies, When the thunder is coming. Where are we living? In passion, and pain, and remorse do we dwell, -- Creating, yet terribly hating, our hell? No triumph achieving? No grossness refining? The wild tree does more; for his coat of rough barks He trims with green mosses, and checks with the marks Of the long summer shining. We're dying, not living: Our senses shut up, and our hearts faint and cold; Upholding old things just because they are old; Our good spirits grieving, We suffer our springs Of promise to pass without sowing the land, And hungry and sad in the harvest-time stand, Expecting good things! | Discover our Poem Explanations and Poet Analyses!Other Poems of Interest...PRIVILEGE OF BEING by ROBERT HASS SEAWATER STIFFENS CLOTH by JANE HIRSHFIELD SAYING YES TO LIVING by DAVID IGNATOW THE WORLD IS SO DIFFICULT TO GIVE UP by DAVID IGNATOW A SPINSTER'S STINT by ALICE CARY |
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