Skip to content
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.

…

Read full poem →

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.”

Know more →

The poem was accompanied by a letter.

26 lines
Samuel Johnson·1709–1784
✦
La Trappe, the 27th of October, 1761 “DEAR SIR,—You seemed to like the ode I sent you for your amusement;I now send it you as a present. If you please to accept of it, andare willing that our friendship should be known when we are gone, youwill be pleased to leave this among those of your own papers that maypossibly see the light by a posthumous publication. God send ushealth while we stay, and an easy journey!—My dear Dr. Young, “Yours, most cordially,“MELCOMBE.” In 1762, a short time before his death, Young published “Resignation.”Notwithstanding the manner in which it was really forced from him by theworld, criticism has treated it with no common severity. If it shall bethought not to deserve the highest praise, on the other side offourscore, by whom, except by Newton and by Waller, has praise beenmerited? To Mrs. Montagu, the famous champion of Shakespeare, I am indebted forthe history of “Resignation.” Observing that Mrs. Boscawen, in the midstof her grief for the loss of the admiral, derived consolation from theperusal of the “Night Thoughts,” Mrs. Montagu proposed a visit to theauthor. From conversing with Young, Mrs. Boscawen derived still furtherconsolation; and to that visit she and the world were indebted for thispoem. It compliments Mrs. Montagu in the following lines:— “Yet write I must. A lady sues:How shameful her request!My brain in labour with dull rhyme,Hers teeming with the best!”
✦