To the Duke of Wellington

←Written in Emerson's Essays

To the Duke of Wellington by Matthew Arnold Sonnets (1849)

In Harmony with Nature→

Sixth in a series of ten sonnets by Matthew Arnold.

Because thou hast believ'd, the wheels of life
Stand never idle, but go always round:
Not by their hands, who vex the patient ground,
Mov'd only; but by genius, in the strife
Of all its chafing torrents after thaw,
Urg'd; and to feed whose movement, spinning sand,
The feeble sons of pleasure set their hand:
And, in this vision of the general law,
Hast labour'd with the foremost, hast become
Laborious, persevering, serious, firm;
For this, thy track, across the fretful foam
Of vehement actions without scope or term,
Call'd History, keeps a splendour: due to wit,
Which saw one clue to life, and follow'd it.

This work published before January 1, 1923 is in the public domain worldwide because the author died at least 100 years ago.