Mutation

William Cullen Bryant

1794 to 1878

Poem Image
Track 1

Reconstruct the poem by dragging each line into its correct position. Your goal is to reassemble the original poem as accurately as possible. As you move the lines, you'll see whether your arrangement is correct, helping you explore the poem's flow and meaning. You can also print out the jumbled poem to cut up and reassemble in the classroom. Either way, take your time, enjoy the process, and discover how the poet's words come together to create something truly beautiful.

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Pain dies as quickly: stern, hard-featured pain
Thus joy, o'erborne and bound, doth still release
They talk of short-lived pleasure—be it so—
His young limbs from the chains that round him press.
The fiercest agonies have shortest reign;
A stable, changeless state, 'twere cause indeed to weep.
The welcome morning with its rays of peace
And after dreams of horror, comes again
Oblivion, softly wiping out the stain,
Weep not that the world changes—did it keep
Are fruits of innocence and blessedness:
Remorse is virtue's root; its fair increase
Makes the strong secret pangs of shame to cease:
Expires, and lets her weary prisoner go.