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Read & copy
“Say not the struggle nought availeth, The labour and the wounds are vain,”
Meaning & context
Clough begins by challenging the despairing assumption that visible setbacks prove sustained effort has accomplished nothing or that a difficult cause is already lost.
Source details
“Say Not the Struggle Nought Availeth,” first published as “The Struggle” in The Crayon, August 1855; text represented by Representative Poetry Online. The poem’s military imagery is metaphorical encouragement shaped by the political disappointments of the 1848–49 era.