Classic and Contemporary Poetry
WHAT MAN MAY LEARN, WHAT MAN MAY DO, by ROBERT LOUIS STEVENSON Poet Analysis Poet's Biography Last Line: Goes forth on an eternal plan Alternate Author Name(s): Stevenson, Robert Lewis Balfour Subject(s): Mankind | ||||||||
What man may learn, what man may do, Of right or wrong of false or true, While, skipper-like, his course he steers Through nine and twenty mingled years, Half misconceived and half forgot, So much I know and practise not. Old are the words of wisdom, old The counsels of the wise and bold: To close the ears, to check the tongue, To keep the pining spirit young; To act the right, to say the true, And to be kind whate'er you do. Thus we across the modern stage Follow the wise of every age; And, as oaks grow and rivers run Unchanged in the unchanging sun, So the eternal march of man Goes forth on an eternal plan. | Discover our Poem Explanations and Poet Analyses!Other Poems of Interest...HOW MUCH EARTH by PHILIP LEVINE THE SHEEP IN THE RUINS by ARCHIBALD MACLEISH THE CONQUERORS by PHYLLIS MCGINLEY THE MARMOZET by HILAIRE BELLOC MEN, WOMEN, AND EARTH by ROBERT BLY BROTHERS: 3. AS FOR MYSELF by LUCILLE CLIFTON A GOOD PLAY by ROBERT LOUIS STEVENSON |
|