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Classic and Contemporary Poetry


THE PURSUIT OF LEARNING by JOHN HERMAN MERIVALE

First Line: WHOSO WITH PATIENT AND INQUIRING MIND
Last Line: OF UNDISCOVER'D WORLDS -- VAST REGIONS OF DELIGHT.
Subject(s): LEARNING;

WHOSO with patient and inquiring mind
Would seek the stream of science to ascend,
Must count the cost, and never hope to find
Rest to his feet, or to his wanderings end.
The faithless road doth ever onward tend,
And clouds and darkness are its utmost bound:
The sacred fount no human eye hath kenn'd,
Though many a wight, beguiled by sight or sound,
"Evpxa!" may exclaim; "I -- I the place have found."

And, sooth to tell, it is a pleasant way
Through sweet variety of lawn and wood,
Mountain and vale, green pasture, forest gray
And peopled town, and silent solitude;
And many a point, at distance dimly view'd,
For idle loiterers an unmeasured height,
By persevering energy subdued,
Rewards the bold adventurer with a sight
Of undiscover'd worlds -- vast regions of delight.



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