By an Evolutionist



By an Evolutionist

The Lord let the house of a brute to the soul of a man,
   And the man said, ‘Am I your debtor?’
And the Lord–‘Not yet; but make it as clean as you can,
   And then I will let you a better.’

I.
If my body come from brutes, my soul uncertain or a fable,
   Why not bask amid the senses while the sun of morning shines,
I, the finer brute rejoicing in my hounds, and in my stable,
   Youth and health, and birth and wealth, and choice of women and of wines?

II.
What hast thou done for me, grim Old Age, save breaking my bones on the rack?
   Would I had past in the morning that looks so bright from afar!

   OLD AGE

Done for thee? starved the wild beast that was linkt with thee eighty years back.
   Less weight now for the ladder-of-heaven that hangs on a star.

I.

If my body come from brutes, tho’ somewhat finer than their own,
   I am heir, and this my kingdom. Shall the royal voice be mute?
No, but if the rebel subject seek to drag me from the throne,
   Hold the sceptre, Human Soul, and rule thy province of the brute.

II.

I have climb’d to the snows of Age, and I gaze at a field in the Past.
   Where I sank with the body at times in the sloughs of a low desire,
But I hear no yelp of the beast, and the Man is quiet at last,
   As he stands on the heights of his life with a glimpse of a height that is higher.

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Submitted on May 13, 2011

Modified on April 24, 2023

1:22 min read
134

Quick analysis:

Scheme A BCBC DEFEF DGH GH IAIA ACAC
Closest metre Iambic heptameter
Characters 1,339
Words 275
Stanzas 7
Stanza Lengths 1, 4, 5, 3, 2, 4, 4

Alfred Lord Tennyson

Alfred Tennyson, 1st Baron Tennyson, FRS was Poet Laureate of Great Britain and Ireland during much of Queen Victoria's reign and remains one of the most popular British poets.  more…

All Alfred Lord Tennyson poems | Alfred Lord Tennyson Books

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    How many syllables an Iambic Pentameter line must have?
    A 12
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