Poetry Explorer

Classic and Contemporary Poetry

LET NO CHARITABLE HOPE by ELINOR WYLIE

Poem Explanation Poet Analysis

First Line: NOW LET NO CHARITABLE HOPE
Last Line: AND NONE HAS QUITE ESCAPED MY SMILE.
Subject(s): LABOR & LABORERS; SELF; WOMEN; WORK; WORKERS;
Now let no charitable hope
Confuse my mind with images
Of eagle and of antelope:
I am in nature none of these.

I was, being human, born alone;
I am, being woman, hard beset;
I live by squeezing from a stone
The little nourishment I get.

In masks outrageous and austere
The years go by in single file;
But none has merited my fear,
And none has quite escaped my smile.



Home: PoetryExplorer.net