Analysis of The Will To Live
Edith Nesbit 1858 (Kennington, Surrey ) – 1924 (New Romney, Kent)
SINCE Faith is a veil that has nothing behind it,
And Hope wanders lost where no mortal can find it,
Since Love is a mirror we break in a minute
In snatching the image our soul has cast in it,
What is the use of the Summers and Springs,
The wave of the woods and the waft of the wings--
Since all means nothing, and good things and ill
Make madness,--a mirage tormenting us still?
Since all the fighting, the ardent endeavour,
The heart cast bleeding to feed the Ideal,
Are vain, vain, vain, and the one thing real
Is that all's vain, for ever and ever;
Why then, be a man and stand back from the strife,
Fall by the sword, but keep out of the snare;
Will but to be--and be willing to bear
All that the gods may lay on your of life!
In the far East, where light ever dawns first,
There has man learned how the Fates may be cheated,
How by our craft may their strength be defeated,
Though all our best be no match for their worst!
Kill the desire that they set in your bosom,
Long not for fruit when you gaze on the blossom,
Dream not of flowers when you gaze on the bud,
Kill all the rebels that shout in your blood.
Sorrow and sickness, disease and decay--
These toll the hours of Life's desolate day;
Hopes unfulfilled and forbidden delight
These are the dreams of Life's treacherous night.
So let me image an infinite peace
Touched with no joy but the ease of release.
Out of the eddies I climb and I cease
Keeping, in change for this man's soul of me,
Something which, by the eternal decree,
Is as like Nothing as Something can be!
Not to desire, to admit, to adore,
Casting the robe of the soul that you wore
Just as the soul casts the body's robe down.
This is man's destiny, this is man's crown.
This is the splendour, the end of the feast;
This is the light of the Star in the East.
So, Silence reconciles Life's jarring phrases
Far in the future, austere and august:
Meanwhile, the buds of the poplars are falling,
Spring's on the lawn, and a little voice calling:
'Daddy, come out! Daddy darling, you must!
Daddy come out and help Molly pick daisies!'
And, since one's here, and the Spring's in the garden
(How many lives hence will that thought earn pardon?)
Since one's a man and man's heart is insistent,
And, since Nirvana is doubtful and distant,
Though life's a hard road and thorny to travel--
Stones in the borders and grass on the gravel,
Still there's the wisdom that wise men call folly,
Still one can go and pick daisies with Molly!
Scheme | AAXABBCC DEEDFGGF HIIHJJIIKKLLMMMNNN OOPPQQ XRSSRXTTUUVVNN |
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Poetic Form | |
Metre | 111011110011 011011110111 111010110010 0100101011101 1101101001 01101001101 1111001101 1100011011 11010010010 0111011001 111100111 1111110010 11101011101 1101111101 1111011011 1101111111 0011111011 11111011110 111011111010 11101111111 100101110110 11111111010 11110111101 1101011011 1001001001 11010111001 101010001 1101111001 1111011001 1111101101 1101011011 1001111111 1011001001 1111011011 11010101101 1001101111 1101101011 1111001111 110101101 1101101001 1101011010 1001001010 101101110 11010010110 1011101011 10110110110 01110010010 11011111110 11010111010 01010110010 11011010110 10010011010 11010111110 11110110110 |
Closest metre | Iambic pentameter |
Characters | 2,409 |
Words | 470 |
Sentences | 16 |
Stanzas | 5 |
Stanza Lengths | 8, 8, 18, 6, 14 |
Lines Amount | 54 |
Letters per line (avg) | 35 |
Words per line (avg) | 9 |
Letters per stanza (avg) | 379 |
Words per stanza (avg) | 93 |
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Submitted on May 13, 2011
Modified on March 05, 2023
- 2:25 min read
- 94 Views
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"The Will To Live" Poetry.com. STANDS4 LLC, 2024. Web. 2 May 2024. <https://www.poetry.com/poem-analysis/9027/the-will-to-live>.
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