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Classic and Contemporary Poetry


THE ANGEL IN THE HOUSE: BOOK 2. CANTO 11. PRELUDE. A DEMONSTRATION by COVENTRY KERSEY DIGHTON PATMORE

Poet Analysis

First Line: NATURE, WITH ENDLESS BEING RIFE
Last Line: WHICH, WANTING, I MYSELF SHOULD MISS.

Nature, with endless being rife,
Parts each thing into 'him' and 'her,'
And, in the arithmetic of life,
The smallest unit is a pair;
And thus, oh, strange, sweet half of me,
If I confess a loftier flame,
If more I love high Heaven than thee,
I more than love thee, thee I am;
And, if the world's not built of lies,
Nor all a cheat the Gospel tells,
If that which from the dead shall rise
Be I indeed, not something else,
There's no position more secure
In reason or in faith than this,
That those conditions must endure,
Which, wanting, I myself should miss.



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