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Classic and Contemporary Poetry

DESTINY by MATTHEW ARNOLD

Poet Analysis

First Line: WHY EACH IS STRIVING, FROM OF OLD
Last Line: AN AIMLESS UNALLAY'D DESIRE.
Subject(s): DESIRE; LIFE;
WHY each is striving, from of old,
To love more deeply than he can?
Still would be true, yet still grows cold?
--Ask of the Powers that sport with man!

They yok'd in him, for endless strife,
A heart of ice, a soul of fire;
And hurl'd him on the Field of Life,
An aimless unallay'd Desire.



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