Poetry Explorer

Classic and Contemporary Poetry

ASPASIA TO SOCRATES by WALTER SAVAGE LANDOR

Poet Analysis

First Line: O THOU WHO SITTEST WITH THE WISE
Last Line: WHERE THEY SHOULD STOP OR WHITHER GO.
O thou who sittest with the wise,
And searchest higher lore,
And openest regions to their eyes
Unvisited before!
I'd run to loose thee if I could,
Nor let the vulture taste thy blood.
But, pity! pity! Attic bee!
'Tis happiness forbidden me.

Despair is not for good or wise,
And should not be for love;
We all must bear our destinies
And bend to those above.
Birds flying o'er the stormy seas
Alight upon their proper trees.
Yet wisest men not always know
Where they should stop or whither go.



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