YET many a Novice of the cloistral shade, And many chained by vows, with eager glee The warrant hail, exulting to be free; Like ships before whose keels, full long embayed In polar ice, propitious winds have made Unlooked-for outlet to an open sea, Their liquid world, for bold discovery, In all her quarters temptingly displayed! Hope guides the young; but when the old must pass The threshold, whither shall they turn to find The hospitality -- the alms (alas! Alms may be needed) which that House bestowed? Can they, in faith and worship, train the mind To keep this new and questionable road? | Discover our Poem Explanations and Poet Analyses!Other Poems of Interest...IN GRANTCHESTER MEADOWS; ON HEARING A SKYLARK SING by GEORGE SANTAYANA WINGED MAN by STEPHEN VINCENT BENET THE EXCHANGE by SAMUEL TAYLOR COLERIDGE THE SAND-MAN by PAUL LAURENCE DUNBAR WHAT THE THRUSH SAID by JOHN KEATS EPISTLE TO ROBERT, EARL OF OXFORD, AND EARL MORTIMER by ALEXANDER POPE HELTER SKELTER; OR, THE HUE AND CRY AFTER THE ATTORNEYS by JONATHAN SWIFT |