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


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Classic and Contemporary Poetry

WORSHIP, by                 Poet Analysis     Poet's Biography
First Line: This is he, who, felled by foes
Last Line: Which is human, which is divine.


This is he, who, felled by foes,
Sprung harmless up, refreshed by blows:
He to captivity was sold,
But him no prison-bars would hold:
Though they sealed him in a rock,
Mountain chains he can unlock:
Thrown to lions for their meat,
The crouching lion kissed his feet:
Bound to the stake, no flames appalled,
But arched o'er him an honoring vault.
This is he men miscall Fate,
Threading dark ways, arriving late,
But ever coming in time to crown
The truth, and hurl wrong-doers down.
He is the oldest, and best known,
More near than naught thou call'st thy own,
Yet, greeted in another's eyes,
Disconcerts with glad surprise.
This is Jove, who, deaf to prayers,
Floods with blessings unawares.
Draw, if thou canst, the mystic line
Severing rightly from thine,
Which is human, which is divine.





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