The Peaceful Shepherd
The Peaceful Shepherd - meaning Summary
Symbols Reduced to the Sword
The poem imagines a speaker returning to a divine act of creation and weighing whether to reinstate human institutions. Faced with the tempting simplicity of arranging stars, the speaker doubts the value of the Crown, the Scales, and the Cross—symbols of authority, commerce, and faith—because, in practice, they have governed lives yet also led to conflict. Rather than sacred or stabilizing, these emblems are portrayed as enabling violence; the final line collapses their intended roles into that of the Sword. The tone is reflective and quietly critical of human institutions.
Read Complete AnalysesIf heaven were to do again, And on the pasture bars, I leaned to line the figures in Between the dotted stars, I should be tempted to forget, I fear, the Crown of Rule, The Scales of Trade, the Cross of Faith, As hardly worth renewal. For these have governed in our lives, And see how men have warred. The Cross, the Crown, the Scales may all As well have been the Sword.
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