Egoism.

Robert Crawford 1959 (Bellshill)



Not as mine their thoughts who pass:
Each has his life's looking-glass
Limning therein the light and shade
His own entity has made.
I have my life's vision still
Coloured for me, good or ill,
And my point of view must be
But my own immortally.
Could I guess at theirs, or know
What shapes in their vision go.
Lift the veil by day and night
That's laid on another's light, —
They might with a fancy free
Get, too, at the gist of me,
And with a plebeian shout
Turn the Gods I worship out,
To be in a concourse lewd
Jeered at by the multitude,
While I with a reeling brain
Talked with Demons in the fane!

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Submitted on May 13, 2011

Modified on March 05, 2023

37 sec read
85

Quick analysis:

Scheme AABBCCDCEEFFDDGGHHII
Closest metre Iambic tetrameter
Characters 592
Words 121
Stanzas 1
Stanza Lengths 20

Robert Crawford

Robert Crawford FRSE FBA is a Scottish poet, scholar and critic. He is currently Professor of English at the University of St Andrews.  more…

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