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Classic and Contemporary Poetry

THE POET'S CHOICE by ROBERT BURNS

Poet Analysis

First Line: I MURDER HATE, BY FIELD OR FLOOD
Last Line: WITHIN THE ARMS OF COZBI!
Subject(s): HATE;
I murder hate by field or flood,
Tho' glory's name may screen us;
In wars at home I'll spend my blood --
Life-giving wars of Venus.
The deities that I adore
Are social Peace and Plenty;
I'm better pleas'd to make one more,
Than be the death of twenty.

I would not die like Socrates,
For all the fuss of Plato;
Nor would I with Leonidas,
Nor yet would I with Cato:
The zealots of the Church and State
Shall ne'er my mortal foes be;
But let me have bold Zimri's fate,
Within the arms of Cozbi!



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