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The Punished

Topics: classic

Not they who know the awful gibbet's anguish,          Not they who, while sad years go by them, in     The sunless cells of lonely prisons languish,          Do suffer fullest penalty for sin.     'Tis they who walk the highways unsuspected,          Yet with grim fear for ever at their side,     Who hug the corpse of some sin undetected,          A corpse no grave or coffin-lid can hide -     'Tis they who are in their own chambers haunted          By thoughts that like unbidden guests intrude,     And sit down, uninvited and unwanted,          And make a nightmare of the solitude.

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"Not they who know the awful gibbet's anguish,..."

This evocative piece by Ella Wheeler Wilcox, titled "The Punished", represents a masterful exploration of classic. The lines capture a profound emotional resonance... ### Why We Love This Line At Linespedia, we believe that poetry is the ultimate sanctuary for the soul...

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"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"

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"Luck is the tuning of our inmost thought          ..."

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