Skip to content
Linespedia

Discontent

By Elizabeth Barrett Browning

Topics: classic

Light human nature is too lightly tost     And ruffled without cause, complaining on     Restless with rest, until, being overthrown,     It learneth to lie quiet. Let a frost     Or a small wasp have crept to the inner-most     Of our ripe peach, or let the wilful sun     Shine westward of our window, straight we run     A furlong's sigh as if the world were lost.     But what time through the heart and through the brain     God hath transfixed us, we, so moved before,     Attain to a calm. Ay, shouldering weights of pain,     We anchor in deep waters, safe from shore,     And hear submissive o'er the stormy main     God's chartered judgments walk for evermore.

AI analysis available. Enable JavaScript to interact.

About this line

"Light human nature is too lightly tost..."

Exploring the themes of classic, Elizabeth Barrett Browning delivers a powerful performance in "Discontent"... ### Why We Love This Line At Linespedia, we believe that poetry is the ultimate sanctuary for the soul...

Attribution & Rights

Author:Elizabeth Barrett Browning

"Light human nature is too lightly tost..." by Elizabeth Barrett Browning

For usage rights, copyright concerns, or to report an issue with this content, please visit our Copyright & Report page.

Related lines

"God, God!     With a childs voice I cry,     Weak, sad, confidingly,     God, God!     Thou knowest, eyelids, raised not always up     Unto"

"With stammering lips and insufficient sound     I strive and struggle to deliver right     That music of my nature, day and night     With drea"

""Theu theu, ti prosderkesthe m ommasin, tekna;"     [Alas, alas, why do you gaze at me with your eyes, my children.]     - Medea.     Do ye h"

"Belovd, thou hast brought me many flowers     Plucked in the garden, all the summer through,     And winter, and it seemed as if they grew"

"Here morning in the ploughman's songs is met     Ere yet one footstep shows in all the sky,     And twilight in the east, a doubt as yet,     S"

"The Text is taken from Percy's Reliques (1765), vol. i. p. 71, 'given from two MS. copies, transmitted from Scotland.' Herd had a very similar bal"

Elizabeth Barrett Browning

About Elizabeth Barrett Browning

Elizabeth Barrett Browning (1806–1861) was one of the most prominent English poets of the Victorian era. Her "Sonnets from the Portuguese" are among the most famous love poems in English, and her verse novel "Aurora Leigh" addressed women's roles in society and art.

Full Bibliography
Continue Reading

"God, God!     With a childs voice I cry,     Weak,..."

Weekly Poetic Insight

Join our literary Sanctuary

Get the most inspiring lines, poetic analysis, and secret shayaris delivered to your inbox every Sunday.