THERE are who think this scene of life A frightful gladiatorial strife, A struggle for existence, Where class contends with class, and each Must plunder all within his reach, To earn his own subsistence. Shocked at the internecine air Of this Arena, they forswear Its passions and its quarrels; They will not sacrifice, to live, All that to life its charms can give, Nor sell for bread their morals Enthusiasts! check your reveries, Ye cannot always pluck at ease From Pleasure's cornucopia; Ye cannot alter Nature's plan, Change to a perfect being Man, Nor England to Utopia. Plunge in the busy current -- stem The tide of errors ye condemn, And fill life's active uses; Begin reform yourselves, and live To prove that Honesty may thrive Unaided by abuses. | Discover our Poem Explanations and Poet Analyses!Other Poems of Interest...TO W.P.: 4 by GEORGE SANTAYANA MOTLEY: THE GHOST by WALTER JOHN DE LA MARE THE SONG OF HIAWATHA: PICTURE-WRITING by HENRY WADSWORTH LONGFELLOW THE HOUSE OF LIFE: 98. HE AND I by DANTE GABRIEL ROSSETTI THE CORAL INSECT by LYDIA HUNTLEY SIGOURNEY SIR GALAHAD by ALFRED TENNYSON GOD SAVE THE NATION! by THEODORE TILTON |