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Classic and Contemporary Poetry
SECOND BEST, by MATTHEW ARNOLD Poet Analysis Poet's Biography First Line: Moderate tasks and moderate leisure Last Line: Strongly stirs and truly burns! Subject(s): Moderation | |||
MODERATE tasks and moderate leisure, Quiet living, strict-kept measure Both in suffering and in pleasure-- 'Tis for this thy nature yearns. But so many books thou readest, But so many schemes thou breedest, But so many wishes feedest, That thy poor head almost turns. And (the world's so madly jangled, Human things so fast entangled) Nature's wish must now be strangled For that best which she discerns. So it must be! yet, while leading A strain'd life, while overfeeding, Like the rest, his wit with reading, No small profit that man earns, Who through all he meets can steer him, Can reject what cannot clear him, Cling to what can truly cheer him! Who each day more surely learns That an impulse, from the distance Of his deepest, best existence, To the words 'Hope, Light, Persistence,' Strongly stirs and truly burns! | Discover our Poem Explanations and Poet Analyses!Other Poems of Interest...A BOOK OF AIRS: SONG 42 by THOMAS CAMPION TOO MUCH OF JOY IS SORROWFUL by ALICE CARY A LITTLE BREAD - A CRUST - A CRUMB by EMILY DICKINSON SONNET: OF MODERATION AND TOLERANCE by GUIDO GUINIZELLI MODERATION (1) by ROBERT HERRICK MODERATION (2) by ROBERT HERRICK |
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