More with things lovely? What provoked the spite

Of filth incarnate, like the poet's need

Of other nutriment than strife and greed!

CLVIII

Who knows most, doubts most; entertaining hope,

Means recognizing fear; the keener sense

Of all comprised within our actual scope

Recoils from aught beyond earth's dim and dense.

Who, grown familiar with the sky, will grope

Henceforward among groundlings? That's offence