Matthew Arnold

And see all sights from pole to pole, / And glance, and nod, and bustle by; / And never once read more

And see all sights from pole to pole, / And glance, and nod, and bustle by; / And never once possess our soul / Before we die.

On one she smiles, and he was blest;
She smiles elsewhere--we make a din!
But 'twas not read more

On one she smiles, and he was blest;
She smiles elsewhere--we make a din!
But 'twas not love which heaved her breast,
Fair child!--it was the bliss within.

No, no! The energy of life may be
Kept on after the grave, but not begun;
And read more

No, no! The energy of life may be
Kept on after the grave, but not begun;
And he who flagg'd not in the earthly strife,
From strength to strength advancing--only he
His soul well-knit, and all his battles won,
Mounts, and that hardly, to eternal life.

Genius is mainly an affair of energy, and poetry is mainly an affair of genius; therefore a nation whose spirit read more

Genius is mainly an affair of energy, and poetry is mainly an affair of genius; therefore a nation whose spirit is characterized by energy may well be imminent in poetry - and we have Shakespeare.

This strange disease of modern life, with its sick hurry, its divided aims.

This strange disease of modern life, with its sick hurry, its divided aims.