Sympathy by Emma Lazarus: Full Text of the Poem

Sympathy

by Emma Lazarus

19th-Century American · Short · 14 linesfaith

Therefore I dare reveal my private woe, The secret blots of my imperfect heart, Nor strive to shrink or swell mine own desert, Nor beautify nor hide. For this I know, That even as I am, thou also art. Thou past heroic forms unmoved shalt go, To pause and bide with me, to whisper low: "Not I alone am weak, not I apart Must suffer, struggle, conquer day by day. Here is my very cross by strangers borne, Here is my bosom-sin wherefrom I pray Hourly deliverance--this my rose, my thorn. This woman my soul's need can understand, Stretching o'er silent gulfs her sister hand."

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Public domain. Source: PoetryDB. Reproduced verbatim; see theanthology for the full collection.

Poems like Sympathy

Matched by documented rules, not taste: two points for every theme tag a poem shares with Sympathy, one point for the same era, one for a similar length.

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5.A Psalm of Lifeby Henry Wadsworth Longfellow

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6.A Thought For A Lonely Death-Bedby Elizabeth Barrett Browning

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