Poetry Explorer- Classic Contemporary Poetry, CLOUD UPON CLOUD (2), by RALPH WALDO EMERSON


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Classic and Contemporary Poetry

CLOUD UPON CLOUD (2), by                 Poet Analysis     Poet's Biography
First Line: Cloud upon cloud
Last Line: Virtue is a cockney grown


Cloud upon cloud.
Clouds after rain
Value standeth in success,
But the same value
Hideth in failure,
In poverty, mourning,
In solitude, crime;
The value adhesive
Sticks to them all
Refuses to sunder
From man, from man.
Differ servitude & rank
As chains that clank not, chains that clank

The last shall be first
The first be postponed
The latest promoted
At the end of the day
It first will appear
Who never surrendered
Who combated stoutly,
Where God was the while
We strutted we coxcombs
So condescendingly
Bowing & giving
Affecting to give
Virtue is a cockney grown





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