Contentment
Ada Cambridge 1844 (St Germans, Norfolk) – 1926 (Melbourne)
Is it a virtue, as the sages say,
The 'trivial round and common task' to ply,
And for no wider walk of life to sigh
Than we were born to; sweetly, day by day,
Our meed of lowly reverence to pay
Our high-placed 'betters'; never to defy
The powers that be; never to kick or cry,
Or think, or question - simply to obey?
Then vice be with us, although blood be shed.
No pact with powers partizan and blind;
No peace with Custom that makes right of wrong.
We shall content us when the starved are fed,
When men and brothers are agreed and kind,
And there is fair play between weak and strong.
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Submitted on May 13, 2011
Modified on March 05, 2023
- 35 sec read
- 67 Views
Quick analysis:
Scheme | ABBAABBA CDECDE |
---|---|
Closest metre | Iambic pentameter |
Characters | 582 |
Words | 117 |
Stanzas | 2 |
Stanza Lengths | 8, 6 |
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"Contentment" Poetry.com. STANDS4 LLC, 2024. Web. 29 Apr. 2024. <https://www.poetry.com/poem/49/contentment>.
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