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once the Creation is complete, Time
becomes one of its components, ages,
or eras, or epochs ensue giving credence
to the fact of an evolutionary process,
instead of stasis a continuation of the
inner workings of primordial Chaos still
roils, bristles, but among more orderly
elements now
is positively blissful
The golden age was first; when Man yet new,
No rule but uncorrupted reason knew:
Evil was not yet even a concept
And, with a native bent, did good pursue.
a native bent, naturally, by instinct, inately
Unforc’d by punishment, un-aw’d by fear,
His words were simple, and his soul sincere;
therefore
Needless was written law, where none opprest:
where no one offended, laws were
unnecessary
The law of Man was written in his breast:
a function of his emotions
No suppliant crowds before the judge appear’d,
No court erected yet, nor cause was heard:
suppliant crowds, petitioners for justice
But all was safe, for conscience was their guard.
remember conscience, something that too
often now has fallen, it seems, by the
wayside
though we’re a long way off at present,
admittedly, from the Golden Age
The mountain-trees in distant prospect please,
please is a verb here, as in the mountain-trees
bring pleasure
but
E’re yet the pine descended to the seas:
E’re, or before, the pine trees descended,
grew closer to, gravitated toward, the water
compare here, ” About her coasts, unruly
waters roar; / And rising, on a ridge,
insult the shore.”, from earlier, where
“water vies with earth for its place upon
the strand”
instead of water, Earth encroaches here,
an equally formidable opponent
E’re sails were spread, new oceans to explore:
E’re, or before, ships set out to conquer,
see Columbus for the archetypal example
And happy mortals, unconcern’d for more,
Confin’d their wishes to their native shore.
a world without an economy
No walls were yet; nor fence, nor mote, nor mound,
Nor drum was heard, nor trumpet’s angry sound:
drums and trumpets at any distance
would’ve been cause for alarm, or at
the very least caution
Nor swords were forg’d; but void of care and crime,
note the negative no, nor, nor hammered out
through the last three verses, describing by
omission the state of the original age,
what there was not
The soft creation slept away their time.
soft creation, not inclined to struggle
The teeming Earth, yet guiltless of the plough,
And unprovok’d, did fruitful stores allow:
Content with food, which Nature freely bred,
On wildings and on strawberries they fed;
the subject here throughout is the “teeming
Earth”, the Earth, metonymized, becomes
earthlings – therefore “they” replaces
“teeming Earth” as subject in the last two
lines – who’d feed on wildings, uncultivated
plants, crab apples, for instance, strawberries
Cornels and bramble-berries gave the rest,
And falling acorns furnish’d out a feast.
The flow’rs unsown, in fields and meadows reign’d:
flowers bloomed unbidden, covering fields
I watch the cherry blossoms grace our
streets with their opulence as I speak,
decking our April days with springtime,
a remnant, a bequest, of that golden
past
And Western winds immortal spring maintain’d.
like very Paradise, stretching into even
immortality
In following years, the bearded corn ensu’d
From Earth unask’d, nor was that Earth renew’d.
renew’d, tilled, harvested
From veins of vallies, milk and nectar broke;
valleys engender streams that create
the conditions for milk and nectar
And honey sweating through the pores of oak.
or our own indigenous syrup of maple
R ! chard
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