The Good, Great Man

Samuel Taylor Coleridge

"How seldom, friend! a good great man inherits
Honour or wealth with all his worth and pains!
It sounds like stories from the land of spirits
If any man obtain that which he merits
Or any merit that which he obtains."

Reply to the Above

For shame, dear friend, renounce this canting strain!
What would'st thou have a good great man obtain?
Place? titles? salary? a gilded chain?
Or throne of corses which his sword had slain?
Greatness and goodness are not means, but ends!
Hath he not always treasures, always friends,
The good great man? three treasures, LOVE, and LIGHT,
And CALM THOUGHTS, regular as infant's breath:
And three firm friends, more sure than day and night,
HIMSELF, his MAKER, and the ANGEL DEATH! 

Next 10 Poems

• Samuel Taylor Coleridge : The Improvisatore
• Samuel Taylor Coleridge : The Knight's Tomb
• Samuel Taylor Coleridge : The Lime-tree Bower My Prison [addressed To Charles Lamb, O
• Samuel Taylor Coleridge : The Moon, How Definite Its Orb! ( Fragment )
• Samuel Taylor Coleridge : The Netherlands ( Fragment )
• Samuel Taylor Coleridge : The Nightingale
• Samuel Taylor Coleridge : The Pains Of Sleep
• Samuel Taylor Coleridge : The Presence Of Love
• Samuel Taylor Coleridge : The Rime Of The Ancient Mariner
• Samuel Taylor Coleridge : The Suicide's Argument

Previous 10 Poems

• Samuel Taylor Coleridge : The Garden Of Boccaccio
• Samuel Taylor Coleridge : The Faded Flower
• Samuel Taylor Coleridge : The Exchange
• Samuel Taylor Coleridge : The Eolian Harp
• Samuel Taylor Coleridge : The Dungeon
• Samuel Taylor Coleridge : The Blossing Of The Solitary Date-tree
• Samuel Taylor Coleridge : The Aeolian Harp
• Samuel Taylor Coleridge : Suicide's Argument, The
• Samuel Taylor Coleridge : Sonnet: To The River Otter
• Samuel Taylor Coleridge : Sonnet