This seemed like a good description of modern life when I read it:
These mighty workmen of our later age,
Who, with a broad highway, have ovrbridged
The froward chaos of futurity,
Tamed to their bidding; they who have the skill
To manage books, and things, and make them act
On infant minds as surely as the sun
Deals with a flower; the keepers of our time,
The guides and wardens of our faculties,
Sages who in their prescience would control
All accidents, and to the very road
Which they have fashioned would confine us down,
Like engines...
Darlene Sybert
University of Missouri, Columbia (English Dept)
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...in the unreasoning progress of the world
A wiser spirit is at work for us,
A better eye...most prodigal
Of blessings, and most studious of our good,
Even in what seem our most unfruitful hours..
*****************************************************************************
These mighty workmen of our later age,
Who, with a broad highway, have ovrbridged
The froward chaos of futurity,
Tamed to their bidding; they who have the skill
To manage books, and things, and make them act
On infant minds as surely as the sun
Deals with a flower; the keepers of our time,
The guides and wardens of our faculties,
Sages who in their prescience would control
All accidents, and to the very road
Which they have fashioned would confine us down,
Like engines...
Darlene Sybert
University of Missouri, Columbia (English Dept)
****************************************************************************
...in the unreasoning progress of the world
A wiser spirit is at work for us,
A better eye...most prodigal
Of blessings, and most studious of our good,
Even in what seem our most unfruitful hours..
*****************************************************************************