Poetry Explorer

Classic and Contemporary Poetry

THE WORLD TO THE SOUL by RICHARD MONCKTON MILNES

Poet Analysis

First Line: SOUL! THAT MAY'ST HAVE BEEN DIVINE
Last Line: DEATH MAY GIVE THEE PEACE, NOT I.
Subject(s): CONSCIENCE;
SOUL! that may'st have been divine,
Now I claim and take thee mine;
Now thy own true bliss will be
In thy loyalty to me.

Though thou seemest without stain,
There is evil in thy grain;
Thou hast tasted of the fruit
Of which Knowledge is the root.

So I must not let thee rest,
Lull'd on Faith's maternal breast;
Faith and Fancy mar the plan
Of the making of a man.

So thy tender heart I bare
To Ambition's frosty air;
So I plunge thee deep in doubt,
That thou may'st grow hard and stout.

So I bid the eager Boy
Sense in every form enjoy;
Stinting not the moment's pleasure,
Save to gain some fuller measure.

Thou wilt lose at last the zest,
Thou wilt need some higher quest;
Then I bid thee rise a Man,
And I aid thee all I can.

Fix thee on some worthy aim,
Proving danger, fronting shame;
Knowing only friends or foes,
As they speed thee or oppose:

Trampling with thy rapid feet
Feelings fond and pleas discreet;
Only for excuses sue
In the great things thou canst do.

If what shone afar so grand,
Turn to nothing in thy hand,
On, again -- the virtue lies
In the struggle, not the prize;

Only rest not: failure-curst
Turn to Pleasure at the worst;
That may calm thy conscience-cry --
Death may give thee peace, not I.



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