- Year Published: 1913
- Language: English
- Country of Origin: United States of America
- Source: Dunbar, P.L. (1913). The Complete Poems of Paul Laurence Dunbar. New York: Dodd, Mead, and Company.
- Flesch–Kincaid Level: 6.5
- Word Count: 101
Dunbar, P. (1913). "Not They Who Soar". Lyrics of Lowly Life (Lit2Go Edition). Retrieved March 06, 2015, from
Dunbar, Paul Laurence. ""Not They Who Soar"." Lyrics of Lowly Life. Lit2Go Edition. 1913. Web. <>. March 06, 2015.
Paul Laurence Dunbar, ""Not They Who Soar"," Lyrics of Lowly Life, Lit2Go Edition, (1913), accessed March 06, 2015,.
Not they who soar, but they who plod
Their rugged way, unhelped, to God
Are heroes; they who higher fare,
And, flying, fan the upper air,
Miss all the toil that hugs the sod.
‘Tis they whose backs have felt the rod,
Whose feet have pressed the path unshod,
May smile upon defeated care,
Not they who soar.
High up there are no thorns to prod,
Nor boulders lurking ‘neath the clod
To turn the keenness of the share,
For flight is ever free and rare;
But heroes they the soil who ‘ve trod,
Not they who soar!