To An Infant
Samuel Taylor Coleridge 1772 (Ottery St Mary) – 1834 (Highgate)
Ah cease thy tears and sobs, my little life!
I did but snatch away the unclasped knife:
Some safer toy will soon arrest thine eye,
And to quick laughter change this peevish cry!
Poor stumbler on the rocky coast of woe,
Tutored by pain each source of pain to know!
Alike the foodful fruit and scorching fire
Awake thy eager grasp and young desire:
Alike the good, the ill offend thy sight,
And rouse the stormy sense of shrill affright!
Untaught, yet wise! mid all thy brief alarms
Thou closely clingest to thy mother's arms,
Nestling thy little face in that fond breast
Whose anxious heavings lull thee to thy rest!
Man's breathing miniature! thou mak'st me sigh--
A babe art thou -- and such a thing am I!
To anger rapid and as soon appeased,
For trifles mourning and by trifles pleased;
Break friendship's mirror with a tetchy blow,
Yet snatch what coals of fire on pleasure's altar glow!
Oh thou that rearest with celestial aim
The future seraph in my mortal frame,
Thrice holy Faith! whatever thorns I meet
As on I totter with unpractised feet,
Still let me stretch my arms and cling to thee,
Meek nurse of souls through their long infancy!
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Submitted on May 13, 2011
Modified on May 02, 2023
- 1:03 min read
- 240 Views
Quick analysis:
Scheme | AABBCCDDEEFFGGBB HHCC IIJJKK |
---|---|
Closest metre | Iambic pentameter |
Characters | 1,127 |
Words | 208 |
Stanzas | 3 |
Stanza Lengths | 16, 4, 6 |
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"To An Infant" Poetry.com. STANDS4 LLC, 2024. Web. 10 Jun 2024. <https://www.poetry.com/poem/34384/to-an-infant>.
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