Noli Aemulari

Arthur Hugh Clough 1819 (Liverpool) – 1861 (Florence)



In controversial foul impureness
The peace that is thy light to thee
Quench not: in faith and inner sureness
Possess thy soul and let it be.

No violence--perverse--persistent--
What cannot be can bring to be;
No zeal what is make more existent,
And strife but blinds the eyes that see.

What though in blood their souls embruing,
The great, the good and wise they curse,
Still sinning, what they know not doing;
Stand still, forbear, nor make it worse.

By curses, by denunciation,
The coming fate they cannot stay;
Nor thou, by fiery indignation,
Though just, accelerate the day.

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Submitted on May 13, 2011

Modified on March 05, 2023

30 sec read
82

Quick analysis:

Scheme ABAB CBCA DADA EFEF
Closest metre Iambic tetrameter
Characters 583
Words 101
Stanzas 4
Stanza Lengths 4, 4, 4, 4

Arthur Hugh Clough

Arthur Hugh Clough was an English poet, an educationalist, and the devoted assistant to ground-breaking nurse Florence Nightingale. more…

All Arthur Hugh Clough poems | Arthur Hugh Clough Books

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