Modern Love XXX: What Are We First
George Meredith 1828 (Portsmouth, Hampshire) – 1909 (Box Hill, Surrey)
What are we first? First, animals; and next
Intelligences at a leap; on whom
Pale lies the distant shadow of the tomb,
And all that draweth on the tomb for text.
Into which state comes Love, the crowning sun:
Beneath whose light the shadow loses form.
We are the lords of life, and life is warm.
Intelligence and instinct now are one.
But nature says: 'My children most they seem
When they least know me: therefore I decree
That they shall suffer.' Swift doth young Love flee,
And we stand wakened, shivering from our dream.
Then if we study Nature we are wise.
Thus do the few who live but with the day:
The scientific animals are they.
Lady, this is my sonnet to your eyes.
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Submitted on May 13, 2011
Modified on March 05, 2023
- 38 sec read
- 51 Views
Quick analysis:
Scheme | ABBACDDCEFFEGHHG |
---|---|
Closest metre | Iambic pentameter |
Characters | 683 |
Words | 129 |
Stanzas | 1 |
Stanza Lengths | 16 |
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"Modern Love XXX: What Are We First" Poetry.com. STANDS4 LLC, 2024. Web. 19 Apr. 2024. <https://www.poetry.com/poem/15543/modern-love-xxx:-what-are-we-first>.
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