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Matthew Arnold - Worldly Place
Work rating: Medium

Even in a palace, life may be led well!
     So spake the imperial sage, purest of men,
     Marcus Aurelius. But the stifling den
     Of common life, where, crowded up pell-mell,
     Our freedom for a little bread we sell,
     And drudge under some foolish master`s ken
     Who rates us if we peer outside our pen—
     Match`d with a palace, is not this a hell?
     Even in a palace! On his truth sincere,
    Who spoke these words, no shadow ever came;
    And when my ill-school`d spirit is aflame
    Some nobler, ampler stage of life to win,
    I`ll stop, and say: "There were no succour here!
    The aids to noble life are all within."
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