Classic and Contemporary Poetry
HUMAN LIFE, by MATTHEW ARNOLD Poet Analysis Poet's Biography First Line: What mortal, when he saw Last Line: The homes that were not destined to be ours. Subject(s): Conduct Of Life | ||||||||
WHAT mortal, when he saw, Life's voyage done, his heavenly Friend, Could ever yet dare tell him fearlessly: 'I have kept uninfring'd my nature's law; The inly-written chart thou gavest me To guide me, I have steer'd by to the end'? Ah! let us make no claim On life's incognizable sea To too exact a steering of our way! Let us not fret and fear to miss our aim If some fair coast has lured us to make stay, Or some friend hail'd us to keep company! Aye, we would each fain drive At random, and not steer by rule! Weakness! and worse, weakness bestow'd in vain! Winds from our side the unsuiting consort rive, We rush by coasts where we had lief remain; Man cannot, though he would, live chance's fool. No! as the foaming swathe Of torn-up water, on the main, Falls heavily away with long-drawn roar On either side the black deep-furrow'd path Cut by an onward-labouring vessel's prore, And never touches the ship-side again; Even so we leave behind, As, charter'd by some unknown Powers, We stem across the sea of life by night, The joys which were not for our use design'd, The friends to whom we had no natural right, The homes that were not destined to be ours. | Discover our Poem Explanations and Poet Analyses!Other Poems of Interest...INTRODUCTION TO THE WORLD by MATTHEA HARVEY SLOWLY: I FREQUENTLY SLOWLY WISH by LYN HEJINIAN MY LIFE: YET WE INSIST THAT LIFE IS FULL OF HAPPY CHANCE by LYN HEJINIAN CHAPTER HEADING by ERNEST HEMINGWAY PUNK HALF PANTHER by JUAN FELIPE HERRERA A CERTAIN MAN by JUAN FELIPE HERRERA GREEN-STRIPED MELONS by JANE HIRSHFIELD LIKE THE SMALL HOLE BY THE PATH-SIDE SOMETHING LIVES IN by JANE HIRSHFIELD |
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