Two Poems Every Child (Past the Age of 18) Should Read

The first is a poem fragment (from Shelley's Epipsychidion) I picked up from reading E M Forster's The Longest Journey. Perhaps I'm not "forcing on it" the exact same thoughts that Shelley or Forster did, but I nevertheless find something that says "Carve out a Spiritual Life for Yourself." 

Thy wisdom speaks in me, and bids me dareThe second is a silly/serious poem from Philip Larkin. Again, I may have a slightly different understanding than Larkin himself had. But that's OK.


This Be The Verse

They fuck you up, your mum and dad.   

    They may not mean to, but they do.   

They fill you with the faults they had

    And add some extra, just for you.

But they were fucked up in their turn

    By fools in old-style hats and coats,   

Who half the time were soppy-stern

    And half at one another’s throats.

Man hands on misery to man.

    It deepens like a coastal shelf.

Get out as early as you can,

    And don’t have any kids yourself.