Inspiration (Masterplots II: Poetry, Revised Edition)
At a glance:
- Author: Henry David Thoreau
- First Published: 1863
- Type of Work: Lyric
- Genres: Poetry, Lyric poetry
The Poem
Henry David Thoreau’s “Inspiration” consists of twenty-one four-line stanzas that declare that only through a humility of spirit can one find communion with the godlike “ancient harmony” that is the basis of truth and that lies at the heart of human experience. This humility of spirit is necessary to purge the mind from the artificial distractions of what the poet calls “the general show of things.” The poem signals this humility in the second stanza, when the poet declares that if he sings with a “light head erect” his verse will remain “weak and...
[The entire page is 1387 words long]
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