| Edmund Clarence Stedman, ed. (1833–1908). An American Anthology, 1787–1900. 1900. |
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| 169. The Test |
| | | By Ralph Waldo Emerson |
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| I HUNG my verses in the wind, | |
| Time and tide their faults may find. | |
| All were winnowed through and through, | |
| Five lines lasted sound and true; | |
| Five were smelted in a pot | 5 |
| Than the South more fierce and hot; | |
| These the siroc could not melt, | |
| Fire their fiercer flaming felt, | |
| And the meaning was more white | |
| Than July’s meridian light. | 10 |
| Sunshine cannot bleach the snow, | |
| Nor time unmake what poets know. | |
| Have you eyes to find the five | |
| Which five hundred did survive? | |
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