Classic and Contemporary Poetry
MAN-TEST, by EDWIN MARKHAM Poet Analysis Poet's Biography First Line: When in the dim beginning of the years Last Line: "with all in life to win or all to lose." Variant Title(s): The Testing Subject(s): Mankind; Religion; Human Race; Theology | ||||||||
When, in the dim beginning of the years, God mixed in man the raptures and the tears, And scattered through his brain the starry stuff, He said, "Behold! Yet this is not enough, For I must test his spirit to make sure That he can dare the vision and endure. "I will withdraw My face, Veil Me in shadow for a certain space, And leave behind only a broken clue, A crevice where the glory glimmers through, Some whisper from the sky, Some footprint in the road to track Me by. "I will leave man to make the fateful guess, Will leave him torn between the no and yes, Leave him unresting till he rests in Me, Drawn upward by the choice that makes him free Leave him in tragic loneliness to choose, With all in life to win or all to lose." | Discover our Poem Explanations and Poet Analyses!Other Poems of Interest...MYSTIC BOUNCE by TERRANCE HAYES MATHEMATICS CONSIDERED AS A VICE by ANTHONY HECHT UNHOLY SONNET 11 by MARK JARMAN SHINE, PERISHING REPUBLIC by ROBINSON JEFFERS THE COMING OF THE PLAGUE by WELDON KEES |
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