Poetry Explorer- Classic Contemporary Poetry, THE TEA-PARTY, by JULIA WARD HOWE


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Classic and Contemporary Poetry

THE TEA-PARTY, by                 Poet Analysis     Poet's Biography
First Line: I am not with you, sisters, in your talk
Last Line: Turned as they fled, and left me charity.
Subject(s): Family Life; Food & Eating; Life; Parties; Sisters; Tea; Relatives


I am not with you, sisters, in your talk;
I sit not in your fancied judgment-seat:
Not thus the sages in their council walk,
Not in this wise the calm great spirits meet.

My life has striven for broader scope than yours;
The daring of its failure and its fact
Have taught how deadly difficult it is
To suit the high endeavor with the act.

I do not reel my satire by the yard,
To flout the fronts of honorable men;
Nor, with poor cunning, underprize the heart
Whose impulse is not open to my ken.

Ah! sisters, but your forward speech comes well
To help the woman's standard, new-unfurled:
In carpet council ye may win the day;
But keep your limits, -- do not rule the world.

What strife should come, what discord rule the times,
Could but your pettish will assert its way!
No lengthened wars of reason, but a rage,
Shown and repented twenty times a day.

Ye're all my betters, -- one in beauty more,
And one in sharpness of the wit and tongue,
And one in trim, decorous piety,
And one with arts and graces ever young.

But well I thank my father's sober house
Where shallow judgment had no leave to be,
And hurrying years, that, stripping much beside,
Turned as they fled, and left me charity.





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