Their Height in Heaven Comforts Not
poem 696
Their Height in Heaven Comforts Not - meaning Summary
Choosing Finite Contentment
The speaker rejects distant, grand assurances of heavenly height or abstract glory, preferring the imperfect, knowable world. Modest possessions and limited understanding bring genuine satisfaction; larger truths or proofs feel insecure and alienating. The poem contrasts speculative exaltation with a cautious pragmatism: a "timid life of Evidence" that admits ignorance yet finds comfort in bounded experience and personal measure rather than transcendent promise.
Read Complete AnalysesTheir Height in Heaven comforts not Their Glory nought to me ‘Twas best imperfect as it was I’m finite I can’t see The House of Supposition The Glimmering Frontier that Skirts the Acres of Perhaps To Me shows insecure The Wealth I had contented me If ’twas a meaner size Then I had counted it until It pleased my narrow Eyes Better than larger values That show however true This timid life of Evidence Keeps pleading I don’t know.
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