Classic and Contemporary Poetry
THE OUTCAST, by JOHN DAVIDSON Poem Explanation Poet Analysis Poet's Biography First Line: Soul, be your own Last Line: Affront the world. Subject(s): Advice; Alienation (social Psychology); Cruelty; Estrangement; Outcasts | ||||||||
SOUL, be your own Pleasance and mart, A land unknown, A state apart. Scowl, and be rude Should love entice; Call gratitude The costliest vice. Deride the ill By fortune sent; Be scornful still If foes repent. When curse and stone Are hissed and hurled, Aloof, alone Disdain the world. Soul, disregard The bad, the good; Be haughty, hard, Misunderstood. Be neutral; spare No humblest lie, And overbear Authority. Laugh wisdom down; Abandon fate; Shame the renown Of all the great. Dethrone the past; Deed, visionnaught Avails at last Save your own thought. Though on all hands The powers unsheathe Their lightning-brands And from beneath, And from above One curse be hurled With scorn, with love Affront the world. | Discover our Poem Explanations and Poet Analyses!Other Poems of Interest...THE HOUR BETWEEN DOG AND WOLF: 2. HERMAN THE BASTARD by LAURE-ANNE BOSSELAAR LITTLE CITIZEN, LITTLE SURVIVOR by HAYDEN CARRUTH GOING OUT FOR CIGARETTES by BILLY COLLINS HOMO WILL NOT INHERIT by MARK DOTY DEFLECTION TOWARD THE RELATIVE MINOR by FORREST GANDER ON A CERTAIN FIELD IN AUVERS by JOHN HAINES ON LOVE: MARINA TSVETAEVA by EDWARD HIRSCH A BALLAD OF HELL by JOHN DAVIDSON |
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