A Dialogue Between the Soul and Body
By: Andrew Marvell

SOUL
O who shall, from this dungeon, raise
A soul enslav'd so many ways?
With bolts of bones, that fetter'd stands
In feet, and manacled in hands;
Here blinded with an eye, and there
Deaf with the drumming of an ear;
A soul hung up, as 'twere, in chains
Of nerves, and arteries, and veins;
Tortur'd, besides each other part,
0 In a vain head, and double heart.

BODY
O who shall me deliver whole
From bonds of this tyrannic soul?
Which, stretch'd upright, impales me so
That mine own precipice I go;
And warms and moves this needless frame,
(A fever could but do the same)
And, wanting where its spite to try,
Has made me live to let me die.
A body that could never rest,
Since this ill spirit it possest.

SOUL
What magic could me thus confine
Within another's grief to pine?
Where whatsoever it complain,
I feel, that cannot feel, the pain;
And all my care itself employs;
That to preserve which me destroys;
Constrain'd not only to endure
Diseases, but, what's worse, the cure;
And ready oft the port to gain,
Am shipwreck'd into health again.

BODY
But physic yet could never reach
The maladies thou me dost teach;
Whom first the cramp of hope does tear,
And then the palsy shakes of fear;
The pestilence of love does heat,
Or hatred's hidden ulcer eat;
Joy's cheerful madness does perplex,
Or sorrow's other madness vex;
Which knowledge forces me to know,
And memory will not forego.
What but a soul could have the wit
To build me up for sin so fit?
So architects do square and hew
Green trees that in the forest grew.

So what if it was for an A.P. Lit mini-test?!  This poem rocks out.  The metre, the rhyme scheme, the inversions (not to mention the sentiment).... Bliss.  Pure bliss.

And just because everyone and their mother has been talking about prom on Phusebox today.... Pretty sure my dress came in the mail.  Awwwww heck yes.  I just need to get around to asking someone, though, so I know whether I'm wearing heels or flats (this is actually quite important; flats will require I hem the dress to a walkable length).  Blah.  I should just take the LotR cardboard stand-up from my room, lol!

What but a soul could have the wit
To build me up for sin so fit?

Holy cow.  I actually was able to apply knowledge to an essay in European History today!  So surreal.... I'm used to BS-ing my way through them with a smattering of possibly-factual ideas concerning the general (very important) era.  But no, today we actually studied in the period before!  Amazing.  Stupendous, even.  We may yet graduate as responsible scholars.  Perish the thought.  Responsible?  How insulting.

But none of this is really important.  I wonder how the voting went today.  I think they were voting for Alito's confirmation (or lack thereof), at any rate.  Hm.  Ponder.  Anyone out there know??