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Classic and Contemporary Poetry
THE BLOOD-GUILTY, by EMPEDOCLES First Line: There is a law of stern necessity Last Line: He makes from host to host, by all abhorred. | |||
THERE is a law of stern Necessity, The immemorial ordinance of the gods Made fast for ever, bravely sworn and sealed: -- Should any Spirit, born to enduring life, Be fouled with sin of slaughter, or transgress By disputation, perjured and forsworn, Three times ten thousand years that soul shall wander An outcast from Felicity, condemned To mortal being, and in diverse shapes With interchange of hardship go his ways. The Heavens force him headlong to the Sea; And vomited from the Sea, dry land receives him, But flings unwanted to the burning Sun; From there, to the heavenly vortex backward thrown, He makes from host to host, by all abhorred. | Discover our Poem Explanations and Poet Analyses!Other Poems of Interest...THE DIVINE PHILOSOPHER by EMPEDOCLES THE LIMITATIONS OF KNOWLEDGE by EMPEDOCLES THE BLACK COTTAGE by ROBERT FROST TO HIS FORSAKEN MISTRESS by ROBERT AYTON THE KING OF SPAIN by MAXWELL BODENHEIM THE LITANY: 10. THE MARTYRS by JOHN DONNE |
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