Work Without Hope
Samuel Taylor Coleridge 1772 (Ottery St Mary) – 1834 (Highgate)
All Nature seems at work. Slugs leave their lair--
The bees are stirring--birds are on the wing--
And WINTER slumbering in the open air,
Wears on his smiling face a dream of Spring !
And I, the while, the sole unbusy thing,
Nor honey make, nor pair, nor build, nor sing.
Yet well I ken the banks where Amaranths blow,
Have traced the fount whence streams of nectar flow.
Bloom, O ye Amaranths ! bloom for whom ye may,
For me ye bloom not ! Glide, rich streams, away !
With lips unbrightened, wreathless brow, I stroll :
And would you learn the spells that drowse my soul ?
WORK WITHOUT HOPE draws nectar in a sieve,
And HOPE without an object cannot live.
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Submitted on May 13, 2011
Modified on April 27, 2023
- 36 sec read
- 162 Views
Quick analysis:
Scheme | ABABBB CCDDEEXX |
---|---|
Closest metre | Iambic pentameter |
Characters | 655 |
Words | 120 |
Stanzas | 2 |
Stanza Lengths | 6, 8 |
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"Work Without Hope" Poetry.com. STANDS4 LLC, 2024. Web. 23 Apr. 2024. <https://www.poetry.com/poem/34401/work-without-hope>.
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