"PEOPLE! your chains are severing link by link; Soon shall the Rich be levelled down -- the Poor Meet them half way." Vain boast! for These, the more They thus would rise, must low and lower sink Till, by repentance stung, they fear to think; While all lie prostrate, save the tyrant few Bent in quick turns each other to undo, And mix the poison, they themselves must drink. Mistrust thyself, vain Country! cease to cry, "Knowledge will save me from the threatened woe." For, if than other rash ones more thou know, Yet on presumptuous wing as far would fly Above thy knowledge as they dared to go, Thou wilt provoke a heavier penalty. | Discover our Poem Explanations and Poet Analyses!Other Poems of Interest...WRITTEN IN EMERSON'S ESSAYS by MATTHEW ARNOLD PAST AND PRESENT by ROWLAND EYLES EGERTON-WARBURTON FIREFLY; A SONG by ELIZABETH MADOX ROBERTS FOR 'THE WINE OF CIRCE' (BY EDWARD BURNE JONES) by DANTE GABRIEL ROSSETTI I HEARD YOUR SOLEMN-SWEET PIPES by WALT WHITMAN |