The Ascent of Man in Poem Form

Apes lifting hairy arms now stand And free the wonder‐working hand. They raise a light aërial house On shafts of widely branching trees, Where, harboured warily, each spouse May feed her little ape in peace, Green cradled in his heaven‐roofed bed, Leaves rustling lullabies o’erhead. And lo, ’mid reeking swarms of earth Grim struggling in the primal wood, A new strange creature hath its birth: Wild—stammering—nameless—shameless—nude; Spurred on by want, held in by fear...

 Shelley Sonnet on Ballooning

Bright ball of flame that thro the gloom of even Silently takes thine ethereal way And with surpassing glory dimmst each ray Twinkling amid the dark blue depth of Heaven; Unlike the Fire thou bearest, soon shalt thou Fade like a meteor in surrounding gloom, Whilst that, unquenchable, is doomed to glow A watch-light by the patriot’s lonely tomb, A ray of courage to the opprest and poor…

 Nonexistence is Preferable to the Afterlife

“What will happen? When we leave the world of the dead, will we live again? Or will we vanish as our daemons did? Brothers, sisters, we shouldn’t follow this child anywhere till we know what’s going to happen to us!” Others took up the question: “Yes, tell us where we’re going! Tell us what to expect! We won’t go unless we know what’ll happen to us!” Lyra turned to Will in despair, but he said, “Tell them the truth. Ask the alethiometer, and tell them what it says.” �...