Monday 27 June 2016

Poetry Revisited: The Pilgrim by John Bunyan

The Pilgrim

(from The Pilgrim's Progress. Second Part: 1678)

Who would true valour see
Let him come hither;
One here will Constant be,
Come Wind, come Weather.
There's no Discouragement,
Shall make him once Relent,
His first avow'd Intent,
To be a Pilgrim.

Who so beset him round,
With dismal Storys,
Do but themselves Confound;
His Strength the more is.
No Lyon can him fright,
He'l with a Gyant Fight,
But he will have a right,
To be a Pilgrim.

Hobgoblin, nor foul Fiend,
Can daunt his Spirit:
He knows, he at the end,
Shall Life Inherit.
Then Fancies fly away,
He'l fear not what men say,
He'l labour Night and Day,
To be a Pilgrim.

John Bunyan (1628-1688)
English writer and Baptist preacher

4 comments:

  1. I've had The Pilgrim's Progress downloaded to my Kindle since August last year and still haven't even started reading it. Must, must, must get on with it!

    Stephanie Jane @ Literary Flits

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    Replies
    1. I must admit that I had never heard of it until I came across this poem. Well, with my native language being German, I'm not "at home" in English literature... and then I found that I seldom enjoy works written before, let's say, 1850.

      Thanks for your comment, Stephanie!

      Delete
  2. Reading this I recalled how many novels I have read where the protagonist learned to read from The Pilgrim's Progress.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Indeed? Now that you said this, it occurs to me that I might have read the one or other such book too. However, my mind didn't consider the title worthwhile to retain, it seems.

      Thanks for your comment, Judy!

      Delete

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