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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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VI. CLAUDE TO EUSTACE.

44 lines
Arthur Hugh Clough·1819–1861
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uxtaposition, in fine; and what is juxtaposition?Look you, we travel along in the railway-carriage or steamer,And, _pour passer le temps_, till the tedious journey be ended,Lay aside paper or book, to talk with the girl that is next one;And, _pour passer le temps_, with the terminus all but in prospect,Talk of eternal ties and marriages made in heaven.Ah, did we really accept with a perfect heart the illusion!Ah, did we really believe that the Present indeed is the Only!Or through all transmutation, all shock and convulsion of passion,Feel we could carry undimmed, unextinguished, the light of our knowledge!But for his funeral train which the bridegroom sees in the distance,Would he so joyfully, think you, fall in with the marriage procession?But for that final discharge, would he dare to enlist in that service?But for that certain release, ever sign to that perilous contract?But for that exit secure, ever bend to that treacherous doorway?—Ah, but the bride, meantime,—do you think she sees it as he does?But for the steady fore-sense of a freer and larger existence,Think you that man could consent to be circumscribed here into action?But for assurance within of a limitless ocean divine, o’erWhose great tranquil depths unconscious the wind-tost surfaceBreaks into ripples of trouble that come and change and endure not,—But that in this, of a truth, we have our being, and know it,Think you we men could submit to live and move as we do here?Ah, but the women,—God bless them! they don’t think at all about it.Yet we must eat and drink, as you say. And as limited beingsScarcely can hope to attain upon earth to an Actual Abstract,Leaving to God contemplation, to His hands knowledge confiding,Sure that in us if it perish, in Him it abideth and dies not,Let us in His sight accomplish our petty particular doings,—Yes, and contented sit down to the victual that He has provided.Allah is great, no doubt, and Juxtaposition his prophet.Ah, but the women, alas! they don’t look at it in that way.Juxtaposition is great;—but, my friend, I fear me, the maidenHardly would thank or acknowledge the lover that sought to obtain her,Not as the thing he would wish, but the thing he must even put up with,—Hardly would tender her hand to the wooer that candidly told herThat she is but for a space, an _ad-interim_ solace and pleasure,—That in the end she shall yield to a perfect and absolute something,Which I then for myself shall behold, and not another,—Which amid fondest endearments, meantime I forget not, forsake not.Ah, ye feminine souls, so loving, and so exacting,Since we cannot escape, must we even submit to deceive you?Since, so cruel is truth, sincerity shocks and revolts you,Will you have us your slaves to lie to you, flatter and—leave you?
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