REELY'S POETRY BLOG

Many of us are told it is wrong to envy very early in life, but just how big of an impression does it make? Starting off in Catholic school at age 6, I of course learned I wasn’t supposed to covet my neighbor’s goods. I happened to notice that my older brother was not deterred one whit from coveting other people’s stuff with impunity, particularly mine, so I don’t think it made that big of an impression on me.

When I was 13, I learned the poem, Richard Cory by Edwin Arlington Robinson. That poem did make a big impression on me. It not only illustrates just how deceiving appearances can be, it also demonstrates that money doesn’t buy happiness and that one never really knows what’s going on in another person mind.

Whenever Richard Cory went down town,
We people on the pavement looked at him:
He was a gentleman from sole to crown,
Clean favored, and imperially slim.

read the rest here – there’s an audio reading and picture by Edouard Manet to go with it.

And here’s another poem about envy that gives a different set of reasons not to be jealous of other people that I found on Google Books. It was written by a gentleman named William A. Stephens who, while he never became a famous poet, had the distinction of contributing to Canada’s early poetry in the 1840’s by publishing the first volume of poetry in Upper Canada (Hamilton, and Other Poems, (Toronto, 1840).

ENVY NOT—A MORAL.

” Who can stand before Envy ?” — Solomon.
” Envy pines at good possessed.”—Cowper.

I envy Stanley Stone his wife —
A lovely woman she;
0! if I had her, I would have
A living luxury.

I envy Grey his handsome house,
Complete from sill to tile;
0 ! if I had it I would live
In such a handsome style.

1 envy Blue his two-in-hand;
What horses! what a rig!
If they were only mine I’d feel
So gentlemanly big.

I envy Brown those costly clothes,
His brilliant ring as well;
What right has he to dress so fine ?
The proud, conceited swell!

I envy Black his eloquence.
How he can plead a cause!
If I had such a tongue as his
I’d live upon applause !

I envy Green that wondrous voice.
Zounds! how the fellow sings!
If I had such a voice as his
I’d prouder be than kings.

I envy White his fine estate.
What timber and what grounds!
If I had it I would not sell
For fifty thousand pounds.

But most I envy Smith, who late
Was out at knee and heel;
But now he’s climb’d to Fortune’s height
On Fortune’s partial wheel.

Thus did unto his envious heart
The fool soliloquize;
Wish’d what he hadn’t — what he had
He never learn’d to prize.

No one should envy any one
Till this condition’s had —
Consent to change in ev’rything — ”
To take the good and bad.

Where is the man with whom you’d change —
Give self for other self ?
You do not envy White his gout —
You only wish his pelf.

You envy Black his well-earn’d fame,
But then you would recoil
From gaining it as he has done,
By wearing, wasting toil.

Then cease to envy; but if still
You are on envy bent,
Go envy him who always is
In ev’ry state content.

And soon you’ll cease to envy him,
And learn to emulate;
For envy leads, if cherished, soon
To misery and hate.

I like this poem because focusing on what you do have that is good in this world and really appreciating it puts you in a place where you can make the best of your life, no matter what!