 | Uncollected poems and prose of Edwin Arlington Robinson |  |
[4]
Strophe II
[And language has he learned and wind-swift thought]And speech and soaring wisdom has he learned,
With human measures and a way to shun
The sharp and painful arrows of the frost.
Full of resource, of all the future brings,
Resourceless meets he nothing; Death alone
He never shall escape; but he has found
[A cure] for life's unyielding maladies. [a cure].
20
Antistrophe II
Thus gifted with a shrewd inventive skill
Beyond belief, now makes he for the right,
Now for the wrong. And first of all the state
Is he who honors most the nation's law
And the sworn justice of the gods; but he
Becomes an outcast whom rash folly binds
In evil fellowship, nor shall he dwell
With me, nor think with me, whose action thus...
Beyond belief, now makes he for the right,
Now for the wrong. And first of all the state
Is he who honors most the nation's law
And the sworn justice of the gods; but he
Becomes an outcast whom rash folly binds
In evil fellowship, nor shall he dwell
With me, nor think with me, whose action thus...
I marvel at this portent of the gods!
Knowing her as I do can I deny
The maid Antigone?—O wretched girl—
Child of a wretched father, Œdipus,
Tell me!—they surely cannot lead you here
Captured in this wild work against the king!
Knowing her as I do can I deny
The maid Antigone?—O wretched girl—
Child of a wretched father, Œdipus,
Tell me!—they surely cannot lead you here
Captured in this wild work against the king!
[Lines 354–383
November 4, 1894]
| Uncollected poems and prose of Edwin Arlington Robinson | |