What is this quenching of immortal thirst? A numbing draught? An aimless anodyne? A furtive filching of a drink divine That earth may prove less aridly accurst? Not ever so. High poetry has long Awakened hours and animated days Of all who hunt by honor-open ways The bread of beauty and the sword of song. Through poetry man moves against the dark, Accoutred for the daunting of defeat; Through poetry he rises with the lark And is at home where earth and heaven meet; Through poetry his clay has caught a spark To light his way and make his labor sweet. | Discover our Poem Explanations and Poet Analyses!Other Poems of Interest...COME UP FROM THE FIELDS FATHER by WALT WHITMAN THE SUPPLIANTS: THE WORLD'S HARMONIOUS PLAN by AESCHYLUS COMMUNION by DOROTHY P. ALBAUGH PSALM 125 by OLD TESTAMENT BIBLE AMERICA (2) by WILLIAM CULLEN BRYANT |