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Classic and Contemporary Poetry


TO 'A CERTAIN RICH MAN' by ALICE MEYNELL

Poet Analysis

First Line: THOU WOULDST NOT PART THY SPOIL
Last Line: A MISER OF THY WOE.

"I HAVE FIVE BRETHREN.... FATHER, I BESEECH THEE ... LEST THEY COME TO THIS PLACE"
@3St. Luke's Gospel@1

THOU wouldst not part thy spoil
Gained from the beggar's want, the weakling's toil,
Nor spare a jot of sumptuousness or state
For Lazarus at the gate.

And in the appalling night
Of expiation, as in day's delight,
Thou heldst thy niggard hand; it would not share
One hour of thy despair.

Those five -- thy prayer for them!
O generous! who, condemned, wouldst not condemn,
Whose ultimate human greatness proved thee so
A miser of thy woe.



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