Self and Life Poem by George Eliot

Self and Life

Rating: 5.0


SELF

Changeful comrade, Life of mine,
Before we two must part,
I will tell thee, thou shalt say,
What thou hast been and art.
Ere I lose my hold of thee
Justify thyself to me.

LIFE
I was thy warmth upon thy mother's knee
When light and love within her eyes were one;
We laughed together by the laurel-tree,
Culling warm daisies 'neath the sloping sun;
We heard the chickens' lazy croon,
Where the trellised woodbines grew,
And all the summer afternoon
Mystic gladness o'er thee threw.
Was it person? Was it thing?
Was it touch or whispering?
It was bliss and it was I:
Bliss was what thou knew'st me by.

SELF
Soon I knew thee more by Fear
And sense of what was not,
Haunting all I held most dear
I had a double lot:
Ardour, cheated with alloy,
Wept the more for dreams of joy.

LIFE
Remember how thy ardour's magic sense
Made poor things rich to thee and small things great;
How hearth and garden, field and bushy fence,
Were thy own eager love incorporate;
And how the solemn, splendid Past
O'er thy early widened earth
Made grandeur, as on sunset cast
Dark elms near take mighty girth.
Hands and feet were tiny still
When we knew the historic thrill,
Breathed deep breath in heroes dead,
Tasted the immortals' bread.

SELF
Seeing what I might have been
Reproved the thing I was,
Smoke on heaven's clearest sheen,
The speck within the rose.
By revered ones' frailties stung
Reverence was with anguish wrung.

LIFE
But all thy anguish and thy discontent
Was growth of mine, the elemental strife
Towards feeling manifold with vision blent
To wider thought: I was no vulgar life
That, like the water-mirrored ape,
Not discerns the thing it sees,
Nor knows its own in others' shape,
Railing, scorning, at its ease.
Half man's truth must hidden lie
If unlit by Sorrow's eye.
I by Sorrow wrought in thee
Willing pain of ministry.

SELF
Slowly was the lesson taught
Through passion, error, care;
Insight was with loathing fraught
And effort with despair.
Written on the wall I saw
'Bow! ' I knew, not loved, the law.

LIFE
But then I brought a love that wrote within
The law of gratitude, and made thy heart
Beat to the heavenly tune of seraphin
Whose only joy in having is, to impart:
Till thou, poor Self — despite thy ire,
Wrestling 'gainst my mingled share,
Thy faults, hard falls, and vain desire
Still to be what others were —
Filled, o'erflowed with tenderness
Seeming more as thou wert less,
Knew me through that anguish past
As a fellowship more vast.

SELF
Yea, I embrace thee, changeful Life!
Far-sent, unchosen mate!
Self and thou, no more at strife,
Shall wed in hallowed state.
Willing spousals now shall prove
Life is justified by love.

COMMENTS OF THE POEM
Bernard F. Asuncion 23 March 2018

Such a brilliant write by George Eliot👍👍👍

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Sylvia Frances Chan 23 March 2018

NUMBER ONE: I have my greatest glee in reading upon thee, THOUGHT mine lengthy would be only me, owee, owee, as I can see, it's me the lengthy and also the thine lengthy, but a beauty oh writer mine, thine this lengthy, truly a Beauty

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Susan Williams 23 March 2018

But all thy anguish and thy discontent Was growth of mine, the elemental strife Towards feeling manifold with vision blent To wider thought: - - - - - True- -but I prefer the intensity of a childhood spent deep in the moment of exploration. 10

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Edward Kofi Louis 23 March 2018

Joy! ! Life of mine. Thanks for sharing this poem with us.

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Sylvia Frances Chan 23 March 2018

A cozy dialogue between Self and Life. Living in an era where it was a greatest problem to be published as a female writer, she used a pseudonym as George Eliot and very many of her books had been published. Thinking that I had written that poem for the International Women's Day last 8 March. I have enjoyed very much of this Classic POTD.

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Sylvia Frances Chan 23 March 2018

NUMBER THREE: after decennia of creating fata-morgana's. Mrs. Eliot, or who your name is, I know that you would not arise nor stand up from your grave, so I feel myself safe. This comment of mine for such a great Classic writer (she wrote more books and stories than she had written poems) is meant with much love. Truthfully yours, Sylvia Frances Chan, Dutch Poetess. PLEASE READ ACCORDING TO THE NUMBERS given

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Sylvia Frances Chan 23 March 2018

NUMBER TWO: oh writer mine, thine this lengthy, truly a Beauty inside thee is just kicked out for me as I read thee in such excellent lengthy of thy poetry, through all ages, eras and poems and beyond infinity, becomes through life, the self and mortality immortal, I reckon. Most respected, because I have finally met my alter-ego bestowed in thee

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George Eliot

George Eliot

Warwickshire, England
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