Professor Newcomer

Edgar Lee Masters 1868 (Garnett) – 1950 (Elkins Park)



Everyone laughed at Col. Prichard
For buying an engine so powerful
That it wrecked itself, and wrecked the grinder
He ran it with.
But here is a joke of cosmic size:
The urge of nature that made a man
Evolve from his brain a spiritual life --
Oh miracle of the world! --
The very same brain with which the ape and wolf
Get food and shelter and procreate themselves.
Nature has made man do this,
In a world where she gives him nothing to do
After all -- (though the strength of his soul goes round
In a futile waste of power.
To gear itself to the mills of the gods) --
But get food and shelter and procreate himself!

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Submitted on May 13, 2011

Modified on March 05, 2023

36 sec read
82

Quick analysis:

Scheme ABCDEFGHIJKLMCNO
Closest metre Iambic pentameter
Characters 609
Words 123
Stanzas 1
Stanza Lengths 16

Edgar Lee Masters

Edgar Lee Masters was an American poet, biographer, and dramatist. more…

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    "Professor Newcomer" Poetry.com. STANDS4 LLC, 2024. Web. 31 Oct. 2024. <https://www.poetry.com/poem/8689/professor-newcomer>.

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