Poetry Explorer- Classic Contemporary Poetry, THE RESOLVE, by MARY LEE CHUDLEIGH


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Classic and Contemporary Poetry

THE RESOLVE, by                     Poet's Biography
First Line: For what the world admires I'll wish no more
Last Line: Esteems it mean to court the world for praise.
Subject(s): Humility; Reason; Intellect; Rationalism; Brain; Mind; Intellectuals


For what the world admires I'll wish no more,
Nor court that airy nothing of a Name;
Such fleeting shadows let the proud adore,
Let them be suppliants for an empty frame.

If Reason rules within and keeps the throne,
While the inferior faculties obey,
And all her laws without reluctance own,
Accounting none more fit, more just than they;

If Virtue my free soul unsullied keeps,
Exempting it from passion and from stain;
If no black guilty thoughts disturb my sleeps,
And no past crimes my vext remembrance pain: --

If though I pleasure find in living here,
I yet can look on death without surprise;
If I've a soul above the reach of fear,
And which will nothing mean or sordid prise:

A soul which cannot be depress'd by grief,
Nor too much rais'd by the sublimest joy;
Which can, when troubled, give itself relief,
And to advantage all its thoughts employ, --

Then am I happy in my humble state,
Although not crown'd with glory nor with bays;
A mind that triumphs over vice and fate
Esteems it mean to court the world for praise.





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