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ReadingWillow structured literacy program for Australian students
Poetry Library

— Stephen Crane

I stood upon a high place,

And saw, below, many devils

Running, leaping,

And carousing in sin.

…

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adjective

Engaged in or ready for action; characterized by energetic work, thought, or speech.

“The students were very active in class discussions, asking many thoughtful questions.”

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IX. CLAUDE TO EUSTACE.

25 lines
Arthur Hugh Clough·1819–1861
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Mild monastic faces in quiet collegiate cloisters_:So let me offer a single and celibatarian phrase, aTribute to those whom perhaps you do not believe I can honour.But, from the tumult escaping, ’tis pleasant, of drumming and shouting,Hither, oblivious awhile, to withdraw, of the fact or the falsehood,And amid placid regards and mildly courteous greetingsYield to the calm and composure and gentle abstraction that reign o’er_Mild monastic faces in quiet collegiate cloisters_:Terrible word, Obligation! You should not, Eustace, you should not,No, you should not have used it. But, oh, great Heavens, I repel it!Oh, I cancel, reject, disavow, and repudiate whollyEvery debt in this kind, disclaim every claim, and dishonour,Yea, my own heart’s own writing, my soul’s own signature! Ah, no!I will be free in this; you shall not, none shall, bind me.No, my friend, if you wish to be told, it was this above all things,This that charmed me, ah, yes, even this, that she held me to nothing.No, I could talk as I pleased; come close; fasten ties, as I fancied;Bind and engage myself deep;—and lo, on the following morningIt was all e’en as before, like losings in games played for nothing.Yes, when I came, with mean fears in my soul, with a semi-performanceAt the first step breaking down in its pitiful rôle of evasion,When to shuffle I came, to compromise, not meet, engagements,Lo, with her calm eyes there she met me and knew nothing of it,—Stood unexpecting, unconscious. _She_ spoke not of obligations,Knew not of debt—ah, no, I believe you, for excellent reasons.
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