Poetry Explorer- Classic Contemporary Poetry, ADAM, by THOMAS TRAHERNE


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Classic and Contemporary Poetry

ADAM, by                 Poet Analysis     Poet's Biography
First Line: God made man upright at the first
Last Line: The earth being in the middle found.
Subject(s): Adam & Eve; Bible


1

God made man upright at the first;
Man made himself by sin accurst:
Sin is a deviation from the way
Of God: 'tis that wherein a man doth stray
From the first path wherein he was to walk,
From the first truth he was to talk.

2

His talk was to be all of praise,
Thanksgiving, rapture, holy days;
For nothing else did with his state agree:
Being full of wonder and felicity,
He was in thankful sort to meditate
Upon the throne in which he state.

3

No gold, nor trade, nor silver there,
Nor clothes, nor coin, nor houses were,
No gaudy coaches, feasts, or palaces,
Nor vain inventions newly made to please;
But native truth, and virgin-purity,
An uncorrupt simplicity.

4

His faithful heart, his hands, and eyes
He lifted up unto the skies;
The earth he wondering kneel'd upon; the air,
He was surrounded with; the trees, the fair
And fruitful fields, his needful treasures were;
And nothing else he wanted there.

5

The world itself was his next theme,
Whereof himself was made supreme:
He had an angel's eye to see the price
Of every creature; that made Paradise.
He had a tongue, yea more, a cherub's sense
To feel its worth and excellence.

6

Encompass'd with the fruits of love,
He crowned was with Heaven above,
Supported with the footstool of God's throne,
A globe more rich than gold or precious stone,
The fertile ground of pleasure and delight,
Encircled in a sphere of light.

7

The sense of what he did possess
Fill'd him with joy and thankfulness;
He was transported even here on earth,
As if he then in Heaven had his birth:
The truth is, Heaven did the man surround,
The earth being in the middle found.





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