Earth's Eternity

John Clare 1793 (Helpston) – 1864 (St Andrew's Hospital)



Man, Earth's poor shadow! talks of Earth's decay:
But hath it nothing of eternal kin?
No majesty that shall not pass away?
No soul of greatness springing up within?
Thought marks without hoar shadows of sublime,
Pictures of power, which if not doomed to win
Eternity, stand laughing at old Time
For ages: in the grand ancestral line
Of things eternal, mounting to divine,
I read Magnificence where ages pay
Worship like conquered foes to the Apennine,
Because they could not conquer. There sits Day
Too high for Night to come at--mountains shine,
Outpeering Time, too lofty for decay.

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Submitted on May 13, 2011

Modified on March 05, 2023

30 sec read
152

Quick analysis:

Scheme ABABCBCDDAEADA
Closest metre Iambic pentameter
Characters 579
Words 101
Stanzas 1
Stanza Lengths 14

John Clare

John Clare was an English poet in his time he was commonly known as the Northamptonshire Peasant Poet more…

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