Poetry Explorer- Classic Contemporary Poetry, A BOOK OF AIRS: SONG 41, by THOMAS CAMPION


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Classic and Contemporary Poetry

A BOOK OF AIRS: SONG 41, by                 Poet Analysis     Poet's Biography
First Line: Whether men do laugh or weep
Last Line: And that happy men disdain.
Subject(s): Conduct Of Life


WHETHER men do laugh or weep,
Whether they do wake or sleep,
Whether they die young or old,
Whether they feel heat or cold;
There is, underneath the sun,
Nothing in true earnest done.

All our pride is but a jest;
None are worst, and none are best;
Grief and joy, and hope and fear,
Play their pageants everywhere:
Vain opinion all doth sway,
And the world is but a play.

Powers above in clouds do sit,
Mocking our poor apish wit;
That so lamely, with such state,
Their high glory imitate:
No ill can be felt but pain,
And that happy men disdain.





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