Skip to content
Linespedia

The Hour Of The Angel

Topics: classic

Sooner or late, in earnest or in jest, (But the stakes are no jest) Ithuriel's Hour Will spring on us, for the first time, the test Of our sole unbacked competence and power Up to the limit of our years and dower Of judgment, or beyond. But here we have Prepared long since our garland or our grave. For, at that hour, the sum of all our past, Act, habit, thought, and passion, shall be cast In one addition, be it more or less, And as that reading runs so shall we do; Meeting, astounded, victory at the last, Or, first and last, our own unworthiness. And none can change us though they die to save!

AI analysis available. Enable JavaScript to interact.

About this line

"Sooner or late, in earnest or in jest,..."

Exploring the themes of classic, Rudyard Kipling delivers a powerful performance in "The Hour Of The Angel"... ### Why We Love This Line At Linespedia, we believe that poetry is the ultimate sanctuary for the soul...

Classified Tags

Related lines

"Now we are come to our Kingdom, And the State is thus and thus; Our legions wait at the Palace gate, Little it profits us. Now we are come to our"

"Until thy feet have trod the Road Advise not wayside folk, Nor till thy back has borne the Load Break in upon the broke. Chase not with unde"

"The white moth to the closing bine, The bee to the opened clover, And the gipsy blood to the gipsy blood Ever the wide world over. Ever the wide"

"When 'Omer smote 'is bloomin' lyre, He'd 'eard men sing by land an' sea; An' what he thought 'e might require, 'E went an' took, the same as me!"

"Here morning in the ploughman's songs is met     Ere yet one footstep shows in all the sky,     And twilight in the east, a doubt as yet,     S"

"The Text is taken from Percy's Reliques (1765), vol. i. p. 71, 'given from two MS. copies, transmitted from Scotland.' Herd had a very similar bal"

Continue Reading

"Now we are come to our Kingdom, And the State is t..."

Weekly Poetic Insight

Join our literary Sanctuary

Get the most inspiring lines, poetic analysis, and secret shayaris delivered to your inbox every Sunday.