Poetry Explorer- Classic Contemporary Poetry, POLITICS, by RALPH WALDO EMERSON


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POLITICS, by             Poem Explanation     Poet Analysis     Poet's Biography
First Line: Gold and iron are good
Last Line: The republican at home.
Subject(s): Politics & Government


Gold and iron are good
To buy iron and gold;
All earth's fleece and food
For their like are sold.
Hinted Merlin wise,
Proved Napoleon great,
Nor kind nor coinage buys
Aught above its rate.
Fear, Craft, and Avarice
Cannot rear a State.
Out of dust to build
What is more than dust, --
Walls Amphion piled
Phoebus stablish must.
When the Muses nine
With the Virtues meet,
Find to their design
An Atlantic seat,
By green orchard boughs
Fended from the heat,
Where the statesman ploughs
Furrow for the wheat, --
When the Church is social worth,
When the state-house is the hearth,
Then the perfect State is come,
The republican at home.





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