Home ⇒ 📌Alexander Pope ⇒ The Riddle of the World
The Riddle of the World
Know then thyself, presume not God to scan
The proper study of Mankind is Man.
Placed on this isthmus of a middle state,
A Being darkly wise, and rudely great:
With too much knowledge for the Sceptic side,
With too much weakness for the Stoic’s pride,
He hangs between; in doubt to act, or rest;
In doubt to deem himself a God, or Beast;
In doubt his mind and body to prefer;
Born but to die, and reas’ning but to err;
Whether he thinks to little, or too much;
Chaos of Thought and Passion, all confus’d;
Still by himself, abus’d or disabus’d;
Created half to rise and half to fall;
Great Lord of all things, yet a prey to all,
Sole judge of truth, in endless error hurl’d;
The glory, jest and riddle of the world.
(2 votes, average: 4.00 out of 5)
Related poetry:
- God's World O world, I cannot hold thee close enough! Thy winds, thy wide grey skies! Thy mists, that roll and rise! Thy woods, this autumn day, that ache and sag And all but cry with colour! That gaunt crag To crush! To lift the lean of that black bluff! World, World, I cannot get thee close […]...
- Yes Yes when God created love he didn’t help most When God created dogs He didn’t help dogs When God created plants that was average When God created hate we had a standard utility When God created me He created me When God created the monkey He was asleep When He created the giraffe He was drunk […]...
- Psalm 82 God the supreme Governor; or, Magistrates warned. Among th’ assemblies of the great A greater Ruler takes his seat; The God of heav’n, as Judge, surveys Those gods on earth, and all their ways. Why will ye, then, frame wicked laws? Or why support th’ unrighteous cause? When will ye once defend the poor, That […]...
- The World 1 I saw Eternity the other night, 2 Like a great ring of pure and endless light, 3 All calm, as it was bright; 4 And round beneath it, Time in hours, days, years, 5 Driv’n by the spheres 6 Like a vast shadow mov’d; in which the world 7 And all her train were […]...
- A Tribute to Mr J. Graham Henderson, The World's Fair Judge Thrice welcome home to Hawick, Mr J. Graham Henderson, For by your Scotch tweeds a great honour you have won; By exhibiting your beautiful tweeds at the World’s Fair You have been elected judge of Australian and American wools while there. You had to pass a strict examination on the wool trade, But you have […]...
- The World Wee falsely think it due unto our friends, That we should grieve for their too early ends: He that surveys the world with serious eys, And stripps Her from her grosse and weak disguise, Shall find ’tis injury to mourn their fate; He only dy’s untimely who dy’s Late. For if ’twere told to children […]...
- Holy Sonnet V: I Am A Little World Made Cunningly I am a little world made cunningly Of elements, and an angelic sprite; But black sin hath betrayed to endless night My worlds both parts, and (oh!) both parts must die. You which beyond that heaven which was most high Have found new spheres, and of new lands can write, Pour new seas in mine […]...
- Ad Piscatorem FOR these are sacred fishes all Who know that lord that is the lord of all; Come to the brim and nose the friendly hand That sways and can beshadow all the land. Nor only so, but have their names, and come When they are summoned by the Lord of Rome. Here once his line […]...
- This is my letter to the World This is my letter to the World That never wrote to Me The simple News that Nature told With tender Majesty Her Message is committed To Hands I cannot see For love of Her Sweet countrymen Judge tenderly of Me...
- The World's All Right Be honest, kindly, simple, true; Seek good in all, scorn but pretence; Whatever sorrow come to you, Believe in Life’s Beneficence! The World’s all right; serene I sit, And cease to puzzle over it. There’s much that’s mighty strange, no doubt; But Nature knows what she’s about; And in a million years or so We’ll […]...
- Half The People In The World Half the people in the world love the other half, half the people hate the other half. Must I because of this half and that half go wandering and changing ceaselessly like rain in its cycle, must I sleep among rocks, and grow rugged like the trunks of olive trees, And hear the moon barking […]...
- To this World she returned To this World she returned. But with a tinge of that A Compound manner, As a Sod Espoused a Violet, That chiefer to the Skies Than to himself, allied, Dwelt hesitating, half of Dust, And half of Day, the Bride....
- A Carol Our Lord Who did the Ox command To kneel to Judah’s King, He binds His frost upon the land To ripen it for Spring To ripen it for Spring, good sirs, According to His Word. Which well must be as ye can see And who shall judge the Lord? When we poor fenmen skate the […]...
- Hymn 27 Assurance of heaven. 2 Tim. 4:68,18. [Death may dissolve my body now, And bear my spirit home; Why do my minutes move so slow, Nor my salvation come? With heav’nly weapons I have fought The battles of the Lord; Finished my course, and kept the faith, And wait the sure reward.] God has laid up […]...
- The Riddle Shall I love God for causing me to be? I was mere utterance; shall these words love me? Yet when I caused His work to jar and stammer, And one free subject loosened all His grammar, I love Him that He did not in a rage Once and forever rule me off the page, But, […]...
- Riddle Where far in forest I am laid, In a place ringed around by stones, Look for no melancholy shade, And have no thoughts of buried bones; For I am bodiless and bright, And fill this glade with sudden glow; The leaves are washed in under-light; Shade lies upon the boughs like snow....
- A Riddle: On A Kiss What thing is that, nor felt nor seene Till it bee given? a present for a Queene: A fine conceite to give and take the like: The giver yet is farther for to seeke; The taker doth possesse nothing the more, The giver hee hath nothing lesse in store: And given once that nature hath […]...
- A Riddle Song THAT which eludes this verse and any verse, Unheard by sharpest ear, unform’d in clearest eye or cunningest mind, Nor lore nor fame, nor happiness nor wealth, And yet the pulse of every heart and life throughout the world incessantly, Which you and I and all pursuing ever ever miss, Open but still a secret, […]...
- As a World Would Have It Shall I never make him look at me again? I look at him, I look my life at him, I tell him all I know the way to tell, But there he stays the same. Shall I never make him speak one word to me? Shall I never make him say enough to show My […]...
- Psalm 96 v.1,10ff C. M. Christ’s first and second coming. Sing to the Lord, ye distant lands, Ye tribes of every tongue; His new-discovered grace demands A new and nobler song. Say to the nations, Jesus reigns, God’s own almighty Son; His power the sinking world sustains, And grace surrounds his throne. Let heav’n proclaim the joyful […]...
- Prayer I ASK good things that I detest, With speeches fair; Heed not, I pray Thee, Lord, my breast, But hear my prayer. I say ill things I would not say – Things unaware: Regard my breast, Lord, in Thy day, And not my prayer. My heart is evil in Thy sight: My good thoughts flee: […]...
- Psalm 9 part 2 v.12 C. M. The wisdom and equity of Providence. When the great Judge, supreme and just, Shall once inquire for blood, The humble souls that mourn in dust Shall find a faithful God. He from the dreadful gates of death Does his own children raise; In Zion’s gates, with cheerful breath, They sing their Father’s […]...
- Psalm 93 The eternal and sovereign God. Jehovah reigns; he dwells in light, Girded with majesty and might: The world, created by his hands, Still on its first foundation stands. But ere this spacious world was made, Or had its first foundation laid, Thy throne eternal ages stood, Thyself the ever-living God. Like floods, the angry nations […]...
- Are You Content? I call on those that call me son, Grandson, or great-grandson, On uncles, aunts, great-uncles or great-aunts, To judge what I have done. Have I, that put it into words, Spoilt what old loins have sent? Eyes spiritualised by death can judge, I cannot, but I am not content. He that in Sligo at Drumcliff […]...
- Liberty Enlightening the World Thou warden of the western gate, above Manhatten Bay, The fogs of doubt that hid thy face are driven clean away: Thine eyes at last look far and clear, thou liftest high thy hand To spread the light of liberty world-wide for every land. No more thou dreamest of a peace reserved alone for thee, […]...
- To Heaven Good and great God, can I not think of thee But it must straight my melancholy be? Is it interpreted in me disease That, laden with my sins, I seek for ease? Oh be thou witness, that the reins dost know And hearts of all, if I be sad for show, And judge me after; […]...
- Essay on Man The First Epistle Awake, my ST. JOHN!(1) leave all meaner things To low ambition, and the pride of Kings. Let us (since Life can little more supply Than just to look about us and to die) Expatiate(2) free o’er all this scene of Man; A mighty maze! but not without a plan; A Wild, where […]...
- They are all Gone into the World of Light 1 They are all gone into the world of light! 2 And I alone sit ling’ring here; 3 Their very memory is fair and bright, 4 And my sad thoughts doth clear. 5 It glows and glitters in my cloudy breast, 6 Like stars upon some gloomy grove, 7 Or those faint beams in which […]...
- The World stands solemner to me The World stands solemner to me Since I was wed to Him A modesty befits the soul That bears another’s name A doubt if it be fair indeed To wear that perfect pearl The Man upon the Woman binds To clasp her soul for all A prayer, that it more angel prove A whiter Gift […]...
- Vanity of the World God gives his mercies to be spent; Your hoard will do your soul no good. Gold is a blessing only lent, Repaid by giving others food. The world’s esteem is but a bribe, To buy their peace you sell your own; The slave of a vainglorious tribe, Who hate you while they make you known. […]...
- The Voice Of The Ancient Bard Youth of delight come hither. And see the opening morn, Image of truth new born. Doubt is fled & clouds of reason. Dark disputes & artful teazing, Folly is an endless maze, Tangled roots perplex her ways, How many have fallen there! They stumble all night over bones of the dead: And feel they know […]...
- Psalm 25 part 1 v.1-11 S. M. Waiting for pardon and direction. I Lift my soul to God, My trust is in his name: Let not my foes that seek my blood Still triumph in my shame. Sin, and the powers of hell, Persuade me to despair: Lord, make me know thy cov’nant well, That I may ‘scape the […]...
- The Best Thing In The World What’s the best thing in the world? June-rose, by May-dew impearled; Sweet south-wind, that means no rain; Truth, not cruel to a friend; Pleasure, not in haste to end; Beauty, not self-decked and curled Till its pride is over-plain; Light, that never makes you wink; Memory, that gives no pain; Love, when, so, you’re loved […]...
- Should the wide world roll away Should the wide world roll away, Leaving black terror, Limitless night, Nor God, nor man, nor place to stand Would be to me essential, If thou and thy white arms were there, And the fall to doom a long way....
- Acknowledgment I. O Age that half believ’st thou half believ’st, Half doubt’st the substance of thine own half doubt, And, half perceiving that thou half perceiv’st, Stand’st at thy temple door, heart in, head out! Lo! while thy heart’s within, helping the choir, Without, thine eyes range up and down the time, Blinking at o’er-bright science, […]...
- The Snowman in the Yard (For Thomas Augustine Daly) The Judge’s house has a splendid porch, with pillars And steps of stone, And the Judge has a lovely flowering hedge that came from across The seas; In the Hales’ garage you could put my house and everything I own, And the Hales have a lawn like an emerald and a […]...
- My World Is Pyramid I Half of the fellow father as he doubles His sea-sucked Adam in the hollow hulk, Half of the fellow mother as she dabbles To-morrow’s diver in her horny milk, Bisected shadows on the thunder’s bone Bolt for the salt unborn. The fellow half was frozen as it bubbled Corrosive spring out of the iceberg’s […]...
- Psalm 07 Aug. 14. 1653. Upon The Words Of Chush The Benjamite Against Him. Lord my God to thee I flie Save me and secure me under Thy protection while I crie Least as a Lion (and no wonder) He hast to tear my Soul asunder Tearing and no rescue nigh. Lord my God if I have […]...
- Sonnet 72: O, lest the world should task you to recite O, lest the world should task you to recite What merit lived in me that you should love After my death, dear love, forget me quite; For you in me can nothing worthy prove- Unless you would devise some virtuous lie To do more for me than mine own desert, And hang more praise upon […]...
- Baby's World I wish I could take a quiet corner in the heart of my baby’s very Own world. I know it has stars that talk to him, and a sky that stoops Down to his face to amuse him with its silly clouds and rainbows. Those who make believe to be dumb, and look as if […]...