HISTORIC be the survey of our kind, And how their brave Society took shape. Lion, wolf, vulture, fox, jackal and ape, The strong of limb, the keen of nose, we find, Who, with some jars in harmony, combined, Their primal instincts taming, to escape The brawl indecent, and hot passions drape. Convenience pricked conscience, that the mind. Thus entered they the field of milder beasts, Which in some sort of civil order graze, And do half-homage to the God of Laws. But are they still for their old ravenous feasts, Earth gives the edifice they build no base: They spring another flood of fangs and claws. | Discover our Poem Explanations and Poet Analyses!Other Poems of Interest...OCTAVES: 2 by EDWIN ARLINGTON ROBINSON GRANDFATHER'S LOVE by SARA TEASDALE HUNTING SONG, FR. ZAPOLYA by SAMUEL TAYLOR COLERIDGE ENDYMION by HENRY WADSWORTH LONGFELLOW LOVE DISSEMBLED, FR. AS YOU LIKE IT by WILLIAM SHAKESPEARE MOUNTAIN FROLIC by GEORGE LAWRENCE ANDREWS |