Loss And Gain

Ralph Waldo Emerson 1803 (Boston) – 1882 (Concord)



Virtue runs before the muse
And defies her skill,
She is rapt, and doth refuse
To wait a painter's will.

Star-adoring, occupied,
Virtue cannot bend her,
Just to please a poet's pride,
To parade her splendor.

The bard must be with good intent
No more his, but hers,
Throw away his pen and paint,
Kneel with worshippers.

Then, perchance, a sunny ray
From the heaven of fire,
His lost tools may over-pay,
And better his desire.

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Submitted on May 13, 2011

Modified on May 04, 2023

24 sec read
564

Quick analysis:

Scheme ABAB CDCD XEXE FDFD
Closest metre Iambic trimeter
Characters 417
Words 78
Stanzas 4
Stanza Lengths 4, 4, 4, 4

Ralph Waldo Emerson

Ralph Waldo Emerson was an American essayist, lecturer, and poet, who led the Transcendentalist movement of the mid-19th century. more…

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