WHAT, then, is Life, -- what Death? Thus the Answerer saith; O faithless mortal, bend thy head and listen: Down o'er the vibrant strings, That thrill, and moan and mourn, and glisten, The Master draws his bow. A voiceless pause; then upward, see, it springs, Free as a bird with disimprisoned wings! In twain the chord was cloven, While, shaken with woe, With breaks of instant joy all interwoven, Piercing the heart with lyric knife, On, on the ceaseless music sings, Restless, intense, serene: -- Life is the downward stroke; the upward, Life; Death but the pause between. | Discover our Poem Explanations and Poet Analyses!Other Poems of Interest...TO THE MEMORY OF INEZ MILHOLLAND by GEORGIA DOUGLAS JOHNSON LACEDEMONIAN INSTRUCTION by WILLIAM BLAKE OH! WEEP FOR THOSE by GEORGE GORDON BYRON THE SKELETON IN ARMOR by HENRY WADSWORTH LONGFELLOW THE BIGLOW PAPERS: 3. WHAT MR. ROBINSON THINKS by JAMES RUSSELL LOWELL |