Poetry & Analysis
Selected Poems
Inspirational PoemsTruth
I.
The merry morn is waking
In all its rosy light,
While fogs and dreams are taking
Flight, with the drowsy night;
Soft eyelashes and roses
Open with hope new-born,
And everything discloses
The happy touch of morn.
And everything is singing
A morning hymn to love,
Flowers and tendrils springing
To greet the trees above;
The streams speak to the fountains,
The breezes to the pines,
The clouds unto the mountains,
The grapes unto the vines.
One throbbing pulse is shaking
All Nature’s mighty frame,—
The child its toys retaking,
The ember’d grate its flame;
Love, and folly, and madness,
Petty aims, and grand,
And fame, and hope, and gladness—
To each one what he plann’d.
Still, whether loving or sighing,
In the bridal garb or pall,
We’re only drifting, flying
To the final goal of all:
We all seek what is ours,—
A lad the joys of youth,
A bee the daintiest flowers,
Whilst I am seeking truth!
II.
O Truth! with deep devotion
I’ve plunged in depths profound,
And sought thee in the ocean
Where’er the plummets sound;
Tho’ fogs and mists may bind thee,
And shoals and sand-banks mock,
We’re sure at last to find thee,
As firm, as hard as rock!
O Truth! broad-breasted river
Which never can be dry,
Where all may bathe for ever,
And swim, or sink and die;
A lamp the great God places
Near all our mortal things,
A light that always graces
The thoughts a pure mind brings!
A gnarled tree in flower,
Where strength and beauty blend,
Which each man, to his power,
Shall either break or bend;
’Mid wide-spread branches flinging
Their shade, when day has sunk,
Some to the branches clinging,
And others to the trunk.
A hill from which all floweth,
A path which all have trod,
A gulf to which all goeth—
The handiwork of God!
A star we’re still blaspheming,
Altho’, on nearer view,
After wild doubts and dreaming,
We’ll know its ray was true.
III.
O Earth! lit up with splendor
At sunset and sunrise,
With gorgeous hues yet tender
To suit our mortal eyes!
Shores where waves are dying!
Woods where soft winds play!
O vast horizon! lying
Round all things far away,
O glorious azure veiling
The gulf, till all is still;
Where idly floating, sailing
Where’er the breezes will,
I ’mid the reeds conceal me,
And list with all my soul
To what the waves reveal me
In their majestic roll!
O glorious azure smiling
On all, from skies above,
Each wearied soul beguiling
To dreams and thoughts of love;
And, while we’re dreaming, seeking
To read the mystic spell,
That murmuring winds are speaking,
That starry pages tell.
O mighty ocean wreathing,
And girdling all the earth!
Stars which the Master’s breathing
Call’d to their fiery birth!
Flowers whose hidden meaning
We crush beneath our feet,
Tho’ God, perchance, is gleaning
Honey from every sweet!
O valleys rich in May-time!
O woodland shades and plains!
Where village towers in play-time
Ring out their merry strains;
Hillocks and mountains bearing
The vast skies on your breasts!
Bright stars a gay smile wearing
Amid your gloomy nests!—
You are but one book’s pages
Where all may read and learn:
Where poets and where sages
May see what most they yearn:
Yet every thought unfurl’d there
Requires a mystic rod,
Tho’ some eyes see a world there,
And some souls find a God.
A Book which is completed
By virtuous deeds alone;
Where youthful dreams are greeted
By feelings still unknown;
Where those whom age has smitten
With wrinkled brows yet vast,
Have in the margin written
“Behold us come at last!”
A holy book concealing
All deeds which God has done;
A thousand names revealing
And yet revealing one—
A name that always leavens
Whate’er we hold of worth,
But one name in the heavens,
But one name on the earth.
A sure book, never failing,
For all may drink its balm,
Tho’ midnight seers are paling
Before they find its charm;
Pythagoras nearly guess’d it,
And Moses knew it well,
And all have loved and bless’d it,
When once they learn’d the spell.
Overview Short Summary
Hugo’s poem is an extended search for truth through nature, devotion, doubt, and spiritual reading of the world. It fits poems about truth of life because truth is presented as a river, lamp, rock, star, and holy book.
Core Ideas Main Themes
- Seeking truth: The speaker openly says he is seeking truth.
- Nature as revelation: The world becomes a book where truth can be read.
- Spiritual truth: Truth is connected with God, light, and moral action.
Emotional Effect Tone and Mood
The tone is devotional, expansive, and visionary. The mood is searching but hopeful.
Literary Technique Imagery and Symbols
Rock, river, lamp, tree, hill, star, book, ocean, flowers, and sky create a vast symbolic map of truth.
Poetic Form Rhyme Scheme and Structure
The poem unfolds in three sections, moving from morning life to a direct address to Truth and then to the world as a sacred text.
To You, Whoever You Are
Whoever you are, I fear you are walking the walks of dreams,
I fear those realities are to melt from under your feet and hands;
Even now, your features, joys, speech, house, trade, manners, troubles, follies, costume, crimes, dissipate away from you,
Your true Soul and body appear before me,
They stand forth out of affairs—out of commerce, shops, law, science, work, farms, clothes, the house, medicine, print, buying, selling, eating, drinking, suffering, dying.
Whoever you are, now I place my hand upon you, that you be my poem;
I whisper with my lips close to your ear,
I have loved many women and men, but I love none better than you.
O I have been dilatory and dumb;
I should have made my way straight to you long ago;
I should have blabbed nothing but you, I should have chanted nothing but you.
I will leave all and come and make the hymns of you;
None has understood you, but I understand you;
None has done justice to you—you have not done justice to yourself;
None but has found you imperfect—I only find no imperfection in you.
O I could sing such grandeurs and glories about you!
You have not known what you are—you have slumbered upon yourself all your life;
Your eye-lids have been the same as closed most of the time;
What you have done returns already in mockeries;
Your thrift, knowledge, prayers, if they do not return in mockeries, what is their return?
The mockeries are not you;
Underneath them, and within them, I see you lurk;
I pursue you where none else has pursued you;
Silence, the desk, the flippant expression, the night, the accustomed routine, if these conceal you from others or from yourself, they do not conceal you from me;
The shaved face, the unsteady eye, the impure complexion, if these balk others, they do not balk me;
The pert apparel, the deformed attitude, drunkenness, greed, premature death, all these I part aside.
There is no endowment in man or woman that is not tallied in you;
There is no virtue, no beauty, in man or woman, but as good is in you;
No pluck, no endurance in others, but as good is in you;
No pleasure waiting for others, but an equal pleasure waits for you.
Whoever you are! claim your own at any hazard!
These shows of the east and west are tame compared to you;
These immense meadows—these interminable rivers—you are immense and interminable as they;
These furies, elements, storms, motions of Nature, throes of apparent dissolution—you are he or she who is master or mistress over them,
Master or mistress in your own right over Nature, elements, pain, passion, dissolution.
The hopples fall from your ankles—you find an unfailing sufficiency;
Old or young, male or female, rude, low, rejected by the rest, whatever you are promulges itself;
Through birth, life, death, burial, the means are provided, nothing is scanted;
Through angers, losses, ambition, ignorance, ennui, what you are picks its way.
Overview Short Summary
Whitman’s poem searches past appearances to see the reader’s true self. It fits hidden truth poems and inner truth poems because the speaker insists that the real person is deeper than routine, shame, and social judgment.
Core Ideas Main Themes
- Inner truth: The speaker sees the true soul and body beneath ordinary life.
- Self-acceptance: The poem tells the reader to claim their own at any hazard.
- Hidden identity: Routine, appearance, and failure conceal but do not erase the true person.
Emotional Effect Tone and Mood
The tone is intimate, expansive, and affirming. The mood is liberating because the poem uncovers dignity beneath surface life.
Literary Technique Imagery and Symbols
Dreams, closed eyelids, concealed selves, meadows, rivers, storms, and falling hopples symbolize awakening to one’s true nature.
Poetic Form Rhyme Scheme and Structure
The free-verse structure allows the poem to unfold like a direct address to the reader.
See?
If one proves weak who you fancied strong,
Or false who you fancied true,
Just ease the smart of your wounded heart
By the thought that it is not you!
If many forget a promise made,
And your faith falls into the dust,
Then look meanwhile in your mirror and smile,
And say, ‘I am one to trust!’
If you search in vain for an ageing face
Unharrowed by fretful fears,
Then make right now, and keep, a vow
To grow in grace with the years.
If you lose your faith in the word of man
As you go from the port of youth,
Just say as you sail, ‘I will not fail
To keep my rudder true!’
For this is the way, and the only way—
At least for you and for me.
It is up to us to be and do
The things we want to see.
Overview Short Summary
Wilcox’s poem answers betrayal by asking the reader to remain truthful. It is useful for poems about trust and honesty because it turns disappointment into personal responsibility.
Core Ideas Main Themes
- Trust and honesty: When others prove false, the speaker urges the reader to remain trustworthy.
- Personal truth: The poem asks readers to become what they want to see.
- Resilience: Broken promises do not have to destroy one’s own character.
Emotional Effect Tone and Mood
The tone is practical, encouraging, and moral. The mood is steady because the poem gives a clear response to dishonesty.
Literary Technique Imagery and Symbols
The mirror, port of youth, sailing, and rudder symbolize self-examination and moral direction.
Poetic Form Rhyme Scheme and Structure
The poem’s repeated “If” clauses move from hurt to a personal vow.
The Voice of the Voiceless
I am the voice of the voiceless;
Through me the dumb shall speak;
Till the deaf world’s ear be made to hear
The cry of the wordless weak.
From street, from cage, and from kennel,
From jungle and stall, the wail
Of my tortured kin proclaims the sin
Of the mighty against the frail.
For love is the true religion,
And love is the law sublime;
And all that is wrought where love is not
Will die at the touch of time.
And Science, the great revealer,
Must flame his torch at the Source;
And keep it bright with that holy light
Or his feet shall fail on the course.
And for those who would barter compassion
For pride, or greed, or lust,
Let them pause and behold, like a tale that is told,
The moral of dust to dust.
I am the voice of the voiceless;
Through me the dumb shall speak;
Till the deaf world’s ear be made to hear
The cry of the wordless weak.
Overview Short Summary
This poem is about speaking a moral truth for those who cannot speak for themselves. It fits poems about speaking truth and truth to power because it challenges cruelty, greed, and indifference.
Core Ideas Main Themes
- Speaking truth: The speaker becomes a voice for the voiceless.
- Justice: The poem exposes the sin of the mighty against the frail.
- Compassion: Love is described as the true religion.
Emotional Effect Tone and Mood
The tone is passionate and reforming. The mood is urgent because the poem wants the world to hear suffering it ignores.
Literary Technique Imagery and Symbols
Voice, deaf world, cage, kennel, torch, and dust symbolize moral witness and ignored truth.
Poetic Form Rhyme Scheme and Structure
The repeated opening and closing lines frame the poem as a public declaration.
Abou Ben Adhem
Abou Ben Adhem (may his tribe increase!)
Awoke one night from a deep dream of peace,
And saw, within the moonlight in his room,
Making it rich, and like a lily in bloom,
An angel writing in a book of gold:—
Exceeding peace had made Ben Adhem bold,
And to the presence in the room he said,
“What writest thou?”—The vision raised its head,
And with a look made of all sweet accord,
Answered, “The names of those who love the Lord.”
“And is mine one?” said Abou. “Nay, not so,”
Replied the angel. Abou spoke more low,
But cheerly still; and said, “I pray thee, then,
Write me as one that loves his fellow-men.”
The angel wrote, and vanished. The next night
It came again with a great wakening light,
And showed the names whom love of God had blessed,
And lo! Ben Adhem’s name led all the rest.
Overview Short Summary
Hunt’s poem reveals a moral truth through a simple story: love for others is a profound form of spiritual goodness. It fits truth of life poems because the ending overturns expectations.
Core Ideas Main Themes
- Moral truth: The poem shows that loving people is deeply connected with loving God.
- Humility: Ben Adhem accepts the first answer without anger.
- Hidden truth: The final revelation shows a truth not visible at first.
Emotional Effect Tone and Mood
The tone is gentle, reverent, and hopeful. The mood is luminous because the room fills with moonlight and spiritual discovery.
Literary Technique Imagery and Symbols
Moonlight, lily, angel, book of gold, and wakening light create a symbolic atmosphere of revealed truth.
Poetic Form Rhyme Scheme and Structure
The poem is a short narrative with a clear turn from uncertainty to blessing.
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