Classic and Contemporary Poetry
LOVE, NOT DUTY, by ARTHUR HUGH CLOUGH Poet Analysis Poet's Biography First Line: Thought may well be ever ranging Last Line: Above all things -- mind it, mind it! Subject(s): Duty | ||||||||
THOUGHT may well be ever ranging, And opinion ever changing, Task-work be, though ill begun, Dealt with by experience better; By the law and by the letter Duty done is duty done: Do it, Time is on the wing! Hearts, 'tis quite another thing, Must or once for all be given, Or must not at all be given; Hearts, 'tis quite another thing! To bestow the soul away Is an idle duty-play! -- Why, to trust a life-long bliss To caprices of a day, Scarce were more depraved than this! Men and maidens, see you mind it; Show of love, where'er you find it, Look if duty lurk behind it! Duty-fancies, urging on Whither love had never gone! Loving -- if the answering breast Seem not to be thus possessed, Still in hoping have a care; If it do, beware, beware! But if in yourself you find it, Above all things -- mind it, mind it! | Discover our Poem Explanations and Poet Analyses!Other Poems of Interest...MEDICINE 2; FOR JOHN MURRAY by CAROLYN KIZER AND THEY OBEY by CARL SANDBURG STOPPING BY WOODS ON A SNOWY EVENING by ROBERT FROST BY THE RIVERS by SHIRLEY KAUFMAN TO LUCASTA, [ON] GOING TO THE WARS by RICHARD LOVELACE FOR THE UNION DEAD by ROBERT LOWELL WITH WHOM IS NO VARIABLENESS, NEITHER SHADOW OF TURNING' by ARTHUR HUGH CLOUGH |
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