Classic and Contemporary Poetry
ANTIGONE: WHAT A PIECE OF WORK IS A MAN; CHORUS, by SOPHOCLES Poet's Biography First Line: Wonders are many, but there is no wonder Last Line: Share hearth, nor heart, of mine! | ||||||||
WONDERS are many, but there is no wonder Wilder than Man -- Man who makes the winds of winter bear him, Through the trough of waves that tower about him, Across grey wastes of sea; Man who wearies the Untiring, the Immortal -- Earth, eldest of the Gods, as year by year, His plough-teams come and go. The care-free bands of birds, Beasts of the wild, tribes of the sea, In netted toils he takes, The Subtle One. Creatures that haunt the hills, the desert-dwellers, His cunning snares; he lays his mastering yoke On the horse's shaggy mane, On the tireless mountain-bull. Speech, too, and wind-swift thought And the soul of the ruler of cities He hath learned, untaught of any. To shun the bitter arrows of the roofless frost, The bitter shafts of rain, He knows, the all-deviser; for without device No morrow finds him. Only against Death He shall call for help in vain, Yet many a mortal sickness he hath mastered. Thus with his wisdom, Subtle past foretelling, Man wins to joy, or sorrow. Does he keep his native laws And the justice sworn by heaven? -- High stands his city. But all citiless Wanders the wretch that dares make sin his fellow. May never such transgressor Share hearth, nor heart, of mine! | Other Poems of Interest...ACHILLIS AMATORES: MELTING ICE by SOPHOCLES ACRISIUS: NIGHT FEAR by SOPHOCLES AEGEUS: WIND IN THE POPLARS by SOPHOCLES AJAX: BEFORE DEATH by SOPHOCLES AJAX: SPEECH OF AJAX [UNIVERSAL CHANGE] by SOPHOCLES AJAX: TECMESSA'S APPEAL TO AJAX by SOPHOCLES ANTIGONE, SELECTION by SOPHOCLES ANTIGONE: BURIED ALIVE by SOPHOCLES |
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