The Riddle of the World poem – Alexander Pope

A poem by Alexander Pope (1688-1744) , the greatest English poet of “Augustan” or Georgian period

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.

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Poems in English 

• For What As Easy by W H Auden by Wystan Hugh Auden (W.H. Auden)
• Five Songs – II by W H Auden by Wystan Hugh Auden (W.H. Auden)
• Fish in the Unruffled Lakes by W H Auden by Wystan Hugh Auden (W.H. Auden)
• Eyes Look Into The Well by W H Auden by Wystan Hugh Auden (W.H. Auden)
• Eyes Look Into The Well by W H Auden by Wystan Hugh Auden (W.H. Auden)
• Edward Lear by W H Auden by Wystan Hugh Auden (W.H. Auden)
• Doggerel by a Senior Citizen by W H Auden by Wystan Hugh Auden (W.H. Auden)
• Deftly, Admiral, Cast Your Fly by W H Auden by Wystan Hugh Auden (W.H. Auden)
• Two Songs for Hedli Anderson by W. H. Auden by Wystan Hugh Auden (W.H. Auden)
• The Shield of Achilles by W. H. Auden by Wystan Hugh Auden (W.H. Auden)
• The More Loving One by W. H. Auden by Wystan Hugh Auden (W.H. Auden)
• The Fall of Rome by W. H. Auden by Wystan Hugh Auden (W.H. Auden)
• September 1, 1939 by W. H. Auden by Wystan Hugh Auden (W.H. Auden)
• On the Circuit by W. H. Auden by Wystan Hugh Auden (W.H. Auden)
• In Memory of W. B. Yeats by W. H. Auden by Wystan Hugh Auden (W.H. Auden)
• In Memory of Sigmund Freud by W. H. Auden by Wystan Hugh Auden (W.H. Auden)
• If I could tell you by W. H. Auden by Wystan Hugh Auden (W.H. Auden)
• For Friends Only by W. H. Auden by Wystan Hugh Auden (W.H. Auden)
• Epitaph on a Tyrant by W. H. Auden by Wystan Hugh Auden (W.H. Auden)
• Death’s Echo by W H Auden by Wystan Hugh Auden (W.H. Auden)

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