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



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Classic and Contemporary Poetry

XENOPHANES, by             Poem Explanation     Poet Analysis     Poet's Biography
First Line: By fate, not option, frugal nature gave
Last Line: Repeats one note.


By fate, not option, frugal Nature gave
One scent to hyson and to wall-flower,
One sound to pine-groves and to waterfalls,
One aspect to the desert and the lake.
It was her stern necessity: all things
Are of one pattern made; bird, beast, and flower,
Song, picture, form, space, thought, and character,
Deceive us, seeming to be many things,
And are but one. Beheld far off, they differ
As God and devil; bring them to the mind,
They dull its edge with their monotony.
To know one element, explore another,
And in the second reappears the first.
The specious panorama of a year
But multiplies the image of a day, --
A belt of mirrors round a taper's flame;
And universal Nature, through her vast
And crowded whole, an infinite paroquet,
Repeats one note.






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