AFFLICTION one day, as she harked to the roar Of the stormy and struggling billow, Drew a beautiful form on the sands of the shore, With the branch of a weeping-willow. Jupiter, struck with the noble plan, As he roamed on the verge of the ocean, Breathed on the figure, and calling it Man, Endued it with life and motion. A creature so glorious in mind and in frame, So stamped with each parent's impression, Among them a point of contention became, Each claiming the right of possession. He is mine, said Affliction; I gave him his birth, I alone am his cause of creation; The materials were furnished by me, answered Earth; I gave him, said Jove, animation. The gods, all assembled in solemn divan, After hearing each claimant's petition, Pronounced a definitive verdict on Man, And thus settled his fate's disposition: "Let Affliction possess her own child, till the woes Of life cease to harass and goad it; After death give his body to Earth, whence it rose, And his spirit to Jove who bestowed it." | Discover our Poem Explanations and Poet Analyses!Other Poems of Interest...A COMPARISON [ADDRESSED] TO A YOUNG LADY by WILLIAM COWPER IN A BYE-CANAL by HERMAN MELVILLE ODE TO THE MAGUIRE by EOCHADH O'HUSSEY THE WHITE SHIP by DANTE GABRIEL ROSSETTI THE JACOBITE ON TOWER HILL by GEORGE WALTER THORNBURY CHOEPHOROI: ORESTES GOES MAD by AESCHYLUS ON THE BIRTH OF A FRIEND'S ELDEST SON by ANNA LETITIA BARBAULD |