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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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ACT IV.--SCENE I.

49 lines
Samuel Johnson·1709–1784
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EMETRIUS, ASPASIA, _enter as talking_. ASPASIA.Enough--resistless reason calms my soul--Approving justice smiles upon your cause,And nature's rights entreat th' asserting sword.Yet, when your hand is lifted to destroy,Think, but excuse a woman's needless caution,--Purge well thy mind from ev'ry private passion,Drive int'rest, love, and vengeance, from thy thoughts;Fill all thy ardent breast with Greece and virtue;Then strike secure, and heav'n assist the blow! DEMETRIUS.Thou kind assistant of my better angel,Propitious guide of my bewilder'd soul,Calm of my cares, and guardian of my virtue! ASPASIA.My soul, first kindled by thy bright example,To noble thought and gen'rous emulation,Now but reflects those beams that flow'd from thee. DEMETRIUS.With native lustre and unborrow'd greatness,Thou shin'st, bright maid, superiour to distress;Unlike the trifling race of vulgar beauties,Those glitt'ring dewdrops of a vernal morn,That spread their colours to the genial beam,And, sparkling, quiver to the breath of May;But, when the tempest, with sonorous wing,Sweeps o'er the grove, forsake the lab'ring bough,Dispers'd in air, or mingled with the dust. ASPASIA.Forbear this triumph--still new conflicts wait us,Foes unforeseen, and dangers unsuspected.Oft, when the fierce besiegers' eager hostBeholds the fainting garrison retire,And rushes joyful to the naked wall,Destruction flashes from th' insidious mine,And sweeps th' exulting conqueror away.Perhaps, in vain the sultan's anger spar'd me,To find a meaner fate from treach'rous friendship--Abdalla!-- DEMETRIUS.Can Abdalla then dissemble!That fiery chief, renown'd for gen'rous freedom,For zeal unguarded, undissembled hate,For daring truth, and turbulence of honour! ASPASIA.This open friend, this undesigning hero,With noisy falsehoods, forc'd me from your arms,To shock my virtue with a tale of love.
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