Poetry Explorer

Classic and Contemporary Poetry

THE REVIEW by THOMAS TRAHERNE

Poet Analysis

First Line: DID I GROW, OR DID I STAY
Last Line: SHALL STILL REVIVE, AND FLOURISH IN THE DUST.
Subject(s): CHILDREN; INNOCENCE; THOUGHT; CHILDHOOD; THINKING;
I

1

Did I grow, or did I stay?
Did I prosper or decay?
When I so
From things to thoughts did go?
Did I flourish or diminish,
When I so in thoughts did finish
What I had in things begun;
When from God's works to think upon
The thoughts of men my soul did come?
The thoughts of men, had they been wise,
Should more delight me than the skies.
They mighty creatures are,
For these the mind
Affect, afflict, do ease or grind;
But foolish thoughts ensnare.

2

Wise ones are a sacred treasure;
True ones yield substantial pleasure:
Compar'd to them,
I things as shades esteem.
False ones are a foolish flourish
(Such as mortals chiefly nourish),
When I them to things compare,
Compar'd to things, they trifles are;
Bad thoughts do hurt, deceive, ensnare.
A good man's thoughts are of such price
That they create a Paradise:
But he that misemploys
That faculty,
God, men, and angels doth defy;
Robs them of all their joys.

II

My childhood is a sphere
Wherein ten thousand heavenly joys appear:
Those @3thoughts@1 it doth include,
And those affections, which review'd,
Again present to me
In better sort the @3things@1 which I did see.
Imaginations real are,
Unto my mind again repair:
Which makes my life a circle of delights;
A hidden sphere of obvious benefits:
An earnest that the actions of the just
Shall still revive, and flourish in the dust.



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