Poetry Explorer- Classic Contemporary Poetry, INSCRIPTIONS: 4, by MARK AKENSIDE


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Classic and Contemporary Poetry

INSCRIPTIONS: 4, by                 Poet Analysis     Poet's Biography
First Line: O youths and virgins: o declining eld
Last Line: "which his own genius only could acquire."
Subject(s): Death; Dramatists; Monuments; Plays & Playwrights ; Poetry & Poets; Shakespeare, William (1564-1616); Dead, The; Dramatists


O YOUTHS and virgins: O declining eld:
O pale misfortune's slaves: O ye who dwell
Unknown with humble quiet: ye who wait
In courts, or fill the golden seat of kings:
O sons of sport and pleasure: O thou wretch
That weep'st for jealous love, or the sore wounds
Of conscious guilt, or death's rapacious hand,
Which left thee void of hope: O ye who roam
In exile; ye who through the embattled field
Seek bright renown; or who for nobler palms
Contend, the leaders of a public cause;
Approach: behold this marble. Know ye not
The features? Hath not oft his faithful tongue
Told you the fashion of your own estate,
The secrets of your bosom? Here, then, round
His monument with reverence while ye stand,
Say to each other: "This was Shakespeare's form;
Who walk'd in every path of human life,
Felt every passion; and to all mankind
Doth now, will ever, that experience yield
Which his own genius only could acquire."





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