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Classic and Contemporary Poetry


THE SAVAGE by CHRISTOPHER DARLINGTON MORLEY

Poet Analysis

First Line: CIVILIZATION CAUSES ME / ALTERNATE FITS: DISGUST AND GLEE
Last Line: (LIKE PILATE, WHEN HIS HANDS HE RINSED).
Subject(s): CIVILIZATION; SOUL;

CIVILIZATION causes me
Alternate fits: disgust and glee.

Buried in piles of glass and stone
My private spirit moves alone,

Where every day from eight to six
I keep alive by hasty tricks.

But I am simple in my soul;
My mind is sullen to control.

At dusk I smell the scent of earth,
And I am dumb -- too glad for mirth.

I know the savors night can give,
And then, and then, I live, I live!

No man is wholly pure and free,
For that is not his destiny,

But though I bend, I will not break:
And still be savage, for Truth's sake.

God damns the easily convinced
(Like Pilate, when his hands he rinsed).



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