Classic and Contemporary Poetry
THE TRUE-BORN ENGLISHMAN: CONCLUSION, by DANIEL DEFOE Poet Analysis First Line: Then let us boast of ancestors no more Last Line: Tis personal virtue only makes us great. Subject(s): England; English | ||||||||
THen let us boast of Ancestors no more, Or Deeds of Heroes done in days of Yore, In latent Records of the Ages past, Behind the Rear of Time, in long Oblivion plac'd For if our Virtues must in Lines descend, The Merit with the Families would end: And Intermixtures would most fatal grow; For Vice would be Hereditary too; The Tainted Blood wou'd of necessity, Involuntary Wickedness convey. Vice, like Ill Nature, for an Age or two, May seem a Generation to pursue; But Virtue seldom does regard the Breed; Fools do the Wise, and Wise Men Fools succeed. What is 't to us, what Ancestors we had? If Good, what better? or what worse, if Bad? Examples are for Imitation set, Yet all men follow Virtue with Regret. Cou'd but our Ancestors retrieve their Fate, And see their Offspring thus degenerate; How we contend for Birth and Names unknown, And build on their past Actions, not our own; They'd cancel Records, and their Tombs deface, And openly disown the vile degenerate Race: For Fame of Families is all a Cheat, 'Tis Personal Virtue only makes us great. | Discover our Poem Explanations and Poet Analyses!Other Poems of Interest...NINETEEN FORTY by NORMAN DUBIE GHOSTS IN ENGLAND by ROBINSON JEFFERS STAYING UP FOR ENGLAND by LIAM RECTOR STONE AND FLOWER by KENNETH REXROTH THE HANGED MAN by KENNETH REXROTH ENGLISH TRAIN COMPARTMENT by JOHN UPDIKE THE TRUE-BORN ENGLISHMAN: INTRODUCTION by DANIEL DEFOE |
|