Fate Poem by Ralph Waldo Emerson

Fate

Rating: 3.4


Deep in the man sits fast his fate
To mould his fortunes, mean or great:
Unknown to Cromwell as to me
Was Cromwell's measure or degree;
Unknown to him as to his horse,
If he than his groom be better or worse.
He works, plots, fights, in rude affairs,
With squires, lords, kings, his craft compares,
Till late he learned, through doubt and fear,
Broad England harbored not his peer:
Obeying time, the last to own
The Genius from its cloudy throne.
For the prevision is allied
Unto the thing so signified;
Or say, the foresight that awaits
Is the same Genius that creates.

COMMENTS OF THE POEM
Mohammad Akmal Nazir 29 April 2011

It is a great poem. Fate is everything in human life. It can make or mar it. We are nothing but puppets in its hand. A wise and thought provoking write indeed.

20 7 Reply
Manonton Dalan 29 April 2012

very interesting to read, reflection of the past.

8 16 Reply
Unwritten Soul 29 April 2011

Flaunt by the poem...Well Arranged with handful and beautiful :) :) ...If fate is a cloth, destiny will be a bundle of thread while the texture and the way of the cloth fabricated always depend how the owner make it final...we have choice to make different we have right to do what we want as long as we try to make something better, as destiny is fine to make a comfortable fate to wear...Still the final fate hold by God, but He let us try first to choose what we want to have...Then the final end will come and sealed as final fate and sometimes fate is so unavoidable....

12 10 Reply
Sana Ghostana 29 April 2013

Fate and Destiny are different. They just lead to the same place. I think that Fate never changes, it is the road you were born on, the beginning. It will stay the same, for a long time you will go in the same direction, Destiny on the other hand, does change, with you. It makes you decide, it lets you see either the Stop. Slow Down, or Go signs in life by giving you unconscious signs while you're on the road of Fate. The opportune moment is when Destiny is waiting at the end of the road, and fate has led you to a fork in the road, the opportunity depends on which side you take. Good or Bad. (It always comes down to that.) Saint or Sinner? The Finale (Fate) depends on the decisions (Destiny.) -SOH

16 4 Reply
Michael Pruchnicki 29 April 2009

We decide our fate by our actions. We can choose our goals and indeed must do so, because only by action in the world does one come to learn the fate that sits fast in the man (or woman, yes!) - 'fast' meaning that part of us which makes our very being possible. We can choose to slay our father's killer or not, as Hamlet could not because of his questioning and doubting as to the rightness of his cause. Laertes could take action because of his very nature. 'You wrong me and I will take my vengeance, ' Laertes says. Polonius could talk in fine-sounding generalities and offer advice, but he betrayed the trust of his own daughter when it came down to doing aomething. Queen Gertrude was a weak woman who fell sway to her passion for her brother-in-law. Even the murderous hand of Claudius worked to result in his own death when the poisoned rapiers were exchanged. In a sense, the only sense that matters, we each of us mold our own fortunes and reap the consequences of our choices, Emerson says as he agrees with the Bard himself.

15 5 Reply
Dr Antony Theodore 29 November 2019

a very fine poem tony

0 0 Reply
Dr Antony Theodore 29 November 2019

For the prevision is allied Unto the thing so signified; Or say, the foresight that awaits Is the same Genius that creates.

0 0 Reply
Ruta Mohapatra 17 March 2018

' Deep in the man sits fast his fate'...........True!

4 3 Reply
Prabhata naik 07 February 2018

Prabhata naik

3 7 Reply
Amar Agarwala 06 June 2016

A wonderful piece of writing. Liked it immensely.

6 6 Reply
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Ralph Waldo Emerson

Ralph Waldo Emerson

Boston / United States
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