Classic and Contemporary Poetry
XENOPHANES, by RALPH WALDO EMERSON 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. | Discover our Poem Explanations and Poet Analyses!Other Poems of Interest...BOSTON HYMN; READ IN MUSIC HALL, JANUARY 1, 1863 by RALPH WALDO EMERSON CONCORD HYMN; SUNG AT COMPLETION OF CONCORD MONUMENT, 1836 by RALPH WALDO EMERSON DIRGE (1) by RALPH WALDO EMERSON EACH AND [OR, IN] ALL by RALPH WALDO EMERSON EROS (1) by RALPH WALDO EMERSON FABLE: THE MOUNTAIN AND THE SQUIRREL by RALPH WALDO EMERSON |
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