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Art
By Herman Melville

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     In placid hours well-pleased we dream
     Of many a brave unbodied scheme.
     But form to lend, pulsed life create,
     What unlike things must meet and mate:
     A flame to melt—a wind to freeze;
     Sad patience—joyous energies;
     Humility—yet pride and scorn;
     Instinct and study; love and hate;
     Audacity—reverence. These must mate,
     And fuse with Jacob's mystic heart,
     To wrestle with the angel—Art.
 
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