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A sequence of lyric poems and brief meditations that foreground the idea of an inner divine power as the source of success and happiness, exploring faith, hope, grief, love, and the moral life. The pieces move between intimate prayers and domestic scenes, public elegies and civic reflections, and philosophical dialogues about change and progress. Recurring motifs include the efficacy of thought, self-reliance, compassion, and the tension between experience and youthful expectation. Tone shifts from comforting consolation to sober realism, combining exhortation and consolation while urging courage, ethical living, and trust in the human spirit amid personal and social trials.
Should some great angel say to me to-morrow,
“Thou must re-tread thy pathway from the
start,
But God will grant, in pity, for thy sorrow,
Some one dear wish, the nearest to thy
heart.”
This were my wish!—from my life’s
dim beginning
Let be what has been! wisdom planned the
whole
My want, my woe, my errors, and my sinning,
All, all were needed lessons for my soul.