A Friend's Illness
A Friend's Illness - meaning Summary
Facing Smallness and Soul
The poem records a sudden thought born from a friend’s sickness: when confronted with a soul’s worth, the speaker’s fear of worldly destruction diminishes. Imagery of the world as a coal on a scale suggests the relative insignificance of material catastrophe compared with inner, spiritual value. The speaker finds reassurance rather than despair, implying that recognition of the soul reframes how one faces loss or annihilation.
Read Complete AnalysesSickness brought me this Thought, in that scale of his: Why should I be dismayed Though flame had burned the whole World, as it were a coal, Now I have seen it weighed Against a soul?
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