If By Chance Your Eye Offend You

Alfred Edward Housman 1859 – 1936



If by chance your eye offend you,
Pluck it out, lad, and be sound:
'Twill hurt, but here are salves to friend you,
And many a balsam grows on ground.

And if your hand or foot offend you,
Cut it off, lad, and be whole;
But play the man, stand up and end you,
When your sickness is your soul.

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Submitted on May 13, 2011

Modified on April 11, 2023

18 sec read
90

Quick analysis:

Scheme ABAB ACAC
Closest metre Iambic tetrameter
Characters 298
Words 62
Stanzas 2
Stanza Lengths 4, 4

Alfred Edward Housman

Alfred Edward Housman, usually known as A. E. Housman, was an English classical scholar and poet, best known to the general public for his cycle of poems A Shropshire Lad.  more…

All Alfred Edward Housman poems | Alfred Edward Housman Books

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    "If By Chance Your Eye Offend You" Poetry.com. STANDS4 LLC, 2024. Web. 23 Apr. 2024. <https://www.poetry.com/poem/884/if-by-chance-your-eye-offend-you>.

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