IS this, ye Gods, the Capitolian Hill? Yon petty Steep in truth the fearful Rock, Tarpeian named of yore, and keeping still That name, a local Phantom proud to mock The Traveller's expectation? -- Could our Will Destroy the ideal Power within, 'twere done Thro' what men see and touch, -- slaves wandering on, Impelled by thirst of all but Heaven-taught skill. Full oft, our wish obtained, deeply we sigh; Yet not unrecompensed are they who learn, From that depression raised, to mount on high With stronger wing, more clearly to discern Eternal things; and, if need be, defy Change, with a brow not insolent, though stern. | Discover our Poem Explanations and Poet Analyses!Other Poems of Interest...HIC JACET by LOUISE CHANDLER MOULTON STARRY NIGHT by KENNETH SLADE ALLING MONCH AND JUNGFRAU by ANTON ALEXANDER VON AUERSPERG EPITAPH ON A CLEISH SCHOOLMASTER by ROBERT BURNS THE FAR-OFF DAY by RICHARD EUGENE BURTON ON A CORNELIAN HEART WHICH WAS BROKEN by GEORGE GORDON BYRON THE PURGATORY OF SUICIDES: BOOK 7, STANZA 8 by THOMAS COOPER TO POET E. W.; OCCAISONED FOR HIS WRITING ... ON OLIVER CROMWELL by CHARLES COTTON |