Classic and Contemporary Poetry
HUMAN FRAILITY, by WILLIAM COWPER Poet Analysis Poet's Biography First Line: Weak and irresolute is man Last Line: Or all the toil is lost. Subject(s): Mankind; Human Race | ||||||||
WEAK and irresolute is man; The purpose of to-day, Woven with pains into his plan, To-morrow rends away. The bow well bent and smart the spring, Vice seems already slain, But passion rudely snaps the string, And it revives again. Some foe to his upright intent Finds out his weaker part, Virtue engages his assent, But pleasure wins his heart. 'Tis here the folly of the wise Through all his art we view, And while his tongue the charge denies, His conscience owns it true. Bound on a voyage of awful length And dangers little known, A stranger to superior strength, Man vainly trusts his own. But oars alone can ne'er prevail To reach the distant coast, The breath of heaven must swell the sail, Or all the toil is lost. | Discover our Poem Explanations and Poet Analyses!Other Poems of Interest...HOW MUCH EARTH by PHILIP LEVINE THE SHEEP IN THE RUINS by ARCHIBALD MACLEISH THE CONQUERORS by PHYLLIS MCGINLEY THE MARMOZET by HILAIRE BELLOC MEN, WOMEN, AND EARTH by ROBERT BLY BROTHERS: 3. AS FOR MYSELF by LUCILLE CLIFTON A COMPARISON by WILLIAM COWPER |
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