Tact
Ralph Waldo Emerson 1803 (Boston) – 1882 (Concord)
What boots it, thy virtue,
What profit thy parts,
While one thing thou lackest,
The art of all arts!
The only credentials,
Passport to success,
Opens castle and parlor,—
Address, man, Address.
The maiden in danger
Was saved by the swain,
His stout arm restored her
To Broadway again:
The maid would reward him,—
Gay company come,—
They laugh, she laughs with them,
He is moonstruck and dumb.
This clenches the bargain,
Sails out of the bay,
Gets the vote in the Senate,
Spite of Webster and Clay;
Has for genius no mercy,
For speeches no heed,—
It lurks in the eyebeam,
It leaps to its deed.
Church, tavern, and market,
Bed and board it will sway;
It has no to-morrow,
It ends with to-day.
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Submitted on May 13, 2011
Modified on March 05, 2023
- 39 sec read
- 192 Views
Quick analysis:
Scheme | ABABXCDC DXDX EFXF XGHG XIEI HGXG |
---|---|
Closest metre | Iambic trimeter |
Characters | 678 |
Words | 131 |
Stanzas | 6 |
Stanza Lengths | 8, 4, 4, 4, 4, 4 |
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"Tact" Poetry.com. STANDS4 LLC, 2024. Web. 25 Apr. 2024. <https://www.poetry.com/poem/29856/tact>.
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