Classic and Contemporary Poetry
LIFE, by HORACE SMITH Poet's Biography First Line: There are who think this scene of life Last Line: Unaided by abuses. Alternate Author Name(s): Smith, Horatio Subject(s): Charm; Life; Nature | ||||||||
THERE are who think this scene of life A frightful gladiatorial strife, A struggle for existence, Where class contends with class, and each Must plunder all within his reach, To earn his own subsistence. Shocked at the internecine air Of this Arena, they forswear Its passions and its quarrels; They will not sacrifice, to live, All that to life its charms can give, Nor sell for bread their morals Enthusiasts! check your reveries, Ye cannot always pluck at ease From Pleasure's cornucopia; Ye cannot alter Nature's plan, Change to a perfect being Man, Nor England to Utopia. Plunge in the busy current -- stem The tide of errors ye condemn, And fill life's active uses; Begin reform yourselves, and live To prove that Honesty may thrive Unaided by abuses. | Discover our Poem Explanations and Poet Analyses!Other Poems of Interest...INTERRUPTED MEDITATION by ROBERT HASS TWO VIEWS OF BUSON by ROBERT HASS THE FATALIST: HOME by LYN HEJINIAN WRITING IS AN AID TO MEMORY: 17 by LYN HEJINIAN LET US GATHER IN A FLOURISHING WAY by JUAN FELIPE HERRERA IN MICHAEL ROBINS?ÇÖS CLASS MINUS ONE by HICOK. BOB BREADTH. CIRCLE. DESERT. MONARCH. MONTH. WISDOM by JOHN HOLLANDER VARIATIONS: 16 by CONRAD AIKEN UNHOLY SONNET 13 by MARK JARMAN ADDRESS TO THE MUMMY AT BELZONI'S EXHIBITION by HORACE SMITH |
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