For Beauty Being the Best of All We Know

Robert Seymour Bridges 1844 (Walmer, Kent) – 1930 (Boars Hill, Berkshire)



For beauty being the best of all we know
Sums up the unsearchable and secret aims
Of nature, and on joys whose earthly names
Were never told can form and sense bestow;
And man has sped his instinct to outgo
The step of science; and against her shames
Imagination stakes out heavenly claims,
Building a tower above the head of woe.
Nor is there fairer work for beauty found
Than that she win in nature her release
From all the woes that in the world abound;
Nay with his sorrow may his love increase,
If from man's greater need beauty redound,
And claim his tears for homage of his peace.

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Submitted on May 13, 2011

Modified on March 05, 2023

33 sec read
49

Quick analysis:

Scheme ABBAABBACDCDCD
Closest metre Iambic pentameter
Characters 582
Words 112
Stanzas 1
Stanza Lengths 14

Robert Seymour Bridges

Robert Seymour Bridges was Poet Laureate from 1913 to 1930. A doctor by training, he achieved literary fame only late in life. His poems reflect a deep Christian faith, and he is the author of many well-known hymns. It was through Bridges’ efforts that Gerard Manley Hopkins achieved posthumous fame. more…

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