Cheerfulness Taught By Reason

by Elizabeth Barrett Browning

I think we are too ready with complaint
In this fair world of God's. Had we no hope
Indeed beyond the zenith and the slope
Of yon gray blank of sky, we might be faint
To muse upon eternity's constraint
Round our aspirant souls. But since the scope
Must widen early, is it well to droop
For a few-days consumed in loss and taint?
O pusillanimous Heart, be comforted, --
And, like a cheerful traveller, take the road,
Singing beside the hedge. What if the bread
Be bitter in thine inn, and thou unshod
To meet the flints? -- At least it may be said,
Because the way is short, I thank thee, -- God!

Source:

The Poems Of Elizabeth Barrett Browning, Volume 1
Copyright 1853
C. S. Francis & Co., 262 Broadway, New York
Crosby & Nichols, Boston
 

Recommended Works

Substitution - Elizabeth Barrett BrowningTears - Elizabeth Barrett BrowningDark rolling clouds in wild confusion driven... - Caroline Bowles SoutheyAdequacy - Elizabeth Barrett BrowningIf by dull rhymes our English must be chain'd ... - John KeatsWork (What are we set on earth for? ...) - Elizabeth Barrett BrowningWritten On The Day That Mr. Leigh Hunt Left Prison - John KeatsTo _. (Time's sea hath been five years at its low ebb, ...) - John KeatsTo Sleep - John KeatsOn A Picture Of Leander - John KeatsTo My Brother - John KeatsFor The Fourteenth Of February - Thomas HoodThe world is with me, and its many cares... - Thomas HoodAddressed To Haydon - John KeatsO night, a terrible dismay still lurks... - Anne WhitneyTo My Brother George - John KeatsContinence - Anne WhitneyFuturity - Elizabeth Barrett BrowningIn the still hours, a stiller strength was born - Anne WhitneyOn A Dream - John KeatsAnswer To A Sonnet Ending Thus: -- - John KeatsKeats's Last Sonnet - John KeatsTo Homer - John KeatsTo J. H. Reynolds - John KeatsLargess from seven-fold heavens, I pray, descend... - Anne WhitneyPatience Taught By Nature - Elizabeth Barrett BrowningNo slight caprice rules thee. -- Who sounds one note... - Anne WhitneyAfter dark vapors have oppress'd our plains ... - John KeatsIt is not death, that sometime in a sigh... - Thomas HoodWhen I have fears that I may cease to be ... - John KeatsOh! how I love, on a fair summer's eve, ... - John KeatsThe Soul's Expression - Elizabeth Barrett BrowningC. L'E. - Anne WhitneyOn Receiving A Gift - Thomas HoodOn First Looking Into Chapman's Homer - John KeatsWritten In The Cottage Where Burns Was Born - John KeatsTo George Sand: A Recognition - Elizabeth Barrett BrowningFrom all these mounds, though day blows fresh and warm, - Anne WhitneyO Mankind's God! most silent and most lowly - Anne WhitneyTo _. (Had I a man's fair form, then might my sighs ...) - John KeatsThe Same (Twas then we said...) - Anne WhitneyWhy did I laugh to-night? - John KeatsTo A Sleeping Child - Thomas HoodDarkness surrounds me with its phantom hosts... - Anne WhitneyO fair mistrust of earth's more solid shows... - Anne WhitneyTo A Friend Who Sent Me Some Roses - John KeatsA Thought For A Lonely Death-Bed - Elizabeth Barrett BrowningThe Prisoner - Elizabeth Barrett BrowningOn Fame (How fever'd is the man, who cannot look ...) - John KeatsOn The Grasshopper And Cricket - John KeatsTo The Ocean - Thomas HoodPerplexed Music - Elizabeth Barrett BrowningHow many bards gild the lapses of time! - John KeatsAn Apprehension - Elizabeth Barrett BrowningTo The Nile - John KeatsTo one who has been long in city pent, ... - John KeatsAlas! and yesternight I woke in terror, - Anne WhitneyNight - Anne WhitneyThe Seraph And Poet - Elizabeth Barrett BrowningComfort (Speak low to me, my Saviour, low and sweet ...) - Elizabeth Barrett BrowningOn Sitting Down To Read King Lear Once Again. - John KeatsI cry your mercy -- pity -- love -- ay, love ... - John KeatsPast And Future - Elizabeth Barrett BrowningOn A Portrait Of Wordsworth - Elizabeth Barrett BrowningTo The Same - Anne WhitneyDiscontent - Elizabeth Barrett BrowningOn Seeing The Elgin Marbles - John KeatsThe Passion Flower - Anne WhitneyWork And Contemplation - Elizabeth Barrett BrowningHappy is England! I could be content ... - John KeatsFalse Poets And True - Thomas HoodAnd for that thou art Beauty, and thy name... - Anne WhitneyO solitude! if I must with thee dwell, - John KeatsTo An Enthusiast - Thomas HoodOn Fame (Fame, like a wayward girl, will still be coy ...). - John KeatsSo reed-like fragile, in the world's whirl nought... - Anne WhitneyRead me a lesson, Muse, and speak it loud - John KeatsTo A Young Lady Who Sent Me A Laurel Crown. - John KeatsI dreamed an angel, Angel twice, through death... - Anne WhitneyThe Meaning Of The Look - Elizabeth Barrett BrowningAddressed To The Same - John KeatsSonnet To A Sonnet - Thomas HoodThree Flowers - Thomas Bailey AldrichThe day is gone, and all its sweets are gone! ... - John KeatsThe Two Sayings - Elizabeth Barrett BrowningYet are there sunbeams, though the kingly sun... - Anne WhitneyBy every sweet tradition of true hearts,... - Thomas HoodStoop low, dear Night, a little star-breeze wakes - Anne WhitneyTo The Spirit - Anne WhitneyTO G. A. W. - John KeatsThe Human Seasons - John KeatsThis pleasant tale is like a little copse: ... - John KeatsI know this spirit bridges unknown space... - Anne WhitneyExaggeration - Elizabeth Barrett BrowningHow bravely Autumn paints upon the sky - Thomas HoodTo ____. (My heart is sick with longing, though I feed) - Thomas HoodWithin my life another life runs deep, - Anne WhitneyTo George Sand: A Desire - Elizabeth Barrett BrowningOf better fortune coming, then, talk not... - Anne WhitneyGrief - Elizabeth Barrett BrowningPain In Pleasure - Elizabeth Barrett BrowningOn Leaving Some Friends At An Early Hour - John KeatsThou seem'st to solve the eternal unity... - Anne WhitneyConsolation - Elizabeth Barrett BrowningCheerfulness Taught By Reason - Elizabeth Barrett BrowningTo Haydon - John KeatsThe Same (Might we make quest ...) - Anne WhitneyOn The Sea - John KeatsBereavement - Elizabeth Barrett BrowningKeen Fitful Gusts Are Whispering Here And There - John KeatsThe Look - Elizabeth Barrett BrowningTo Fancy - Thomas HoodOn Leigh Hunt's Poem, The Story Of Rimini. - John KeatsLear - Thomas HoodInsufficiency - Elizabeth Barrett BrowningO high-born souls, such as God sends to mould... - Anne WhitneyIrreparableness - Elizabeth Barrett BrowningTo Kosciusko - John KeatsTo Ailsa Rock - John Keats