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To An Independent Preacher

By Matthew Arnold

Topics: classic

In harmony with Nature? Restless fool,     Who with such heat dost preach what were to thee,     When true, the last impossibility;     To be like Nature strong, like Nature cool:     Know, man hath all which Nature hath, but more,     And in that more lie all his hopes of good.     Nature is cruel; man is sick of blood:     Nature is stubborn; man would fain adore:     Nature is fickle; man hath need of rest:     Nature forgives no debt, and fears no grave;     Man would be mild, and with safe conscience blest.     Man must begin, know this, where Nature ends;     Nature and man can never be fast friends.     Fool, if thou canst not pass her, rest her slave

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"In harmony with Nature? Restless fool,..."

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Author:Matthew Arnold

"In harmony with Nature? Restless fool,..." by Matthew Arnold

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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"

Matthew Arnold

About Matthew Arnold

Matthew Arnold (1822–1888) was an English poet and critic whose poems "Dover Beach" and "The Scholar Gipsy" explore Victorian doubt and the search for meaning. His critical work "Culture and Anarchy" (1869) remains influential in literary and cultural studies.

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