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Classic and Contemporary Poetry

EASTER HOLIDAYS by SAMUEL TAYLOR COLERIDGE

Poet Analysis

First Line: HAIL! FESTAL EASTER, THAT DOST BRING
Last Line: LIKE EASTER ALL THE YEAR.
Subject(s): EASTER; HOLIDAYS; THE RESURRECTION;
I

Hail! festal Easter, that dost bring
Approach of sweetly smiling spring,
When feather'd songsters through the grove
With beasts confess the power of love,
And brighten all the scene.

II

Now Youths the breaking stages load,
That swiftly rattling o'er the road
To Greenwich haste away;
While some with sounding oars divide
Of smoothly flowing Thames the tide:
All sing the festive lay.

III

With mirthful dance they beat the ground,
Their shouts of joy the hills resound
And catch the jocund noise:
Without a tear, without a sigh,
Their moments all in transport fly
Till evening ends their joys.

IV

But little think their joyous hearts
Of dire Misfortune's varied smarts,
Which youthful years conceal;
Thoughtless of bitter smiling woe,
Which all mankind are born to know,
And they themselves must feel.

V

Yet he, who wisdom's paths shall keep,
And virtue firm, that scorns to weep
At ills in fortune's power;
Through this life's variegated scene,
In raging storms -- or calms serene,
Shall cheerful spend the hour.

VI

While steady virtue guides his mind,
Heav'n born content he still shall find,
That never sheds a tear:
Without respect to any tide,
His hours away in bliss shall glide,
Like Easter all the year.



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