Classic and Contemporary Poetry
A DIALOGUE: JOHN AND RICHARD, by JOHN BYROM Poet Analysis Poet's Biography First Line: John: what! Must maecenas, when he sups Last Line: Does horace's intent remain! Subject(s): Friendship; Poetry & Poets | ||||||||
JOHN AND RICHARD. John. WHAT! must Mæcenas, when he sups With Horace, drink a hundred cups? A hundred cups Mæcenas drink! Where must he put them all, d'ye think? Pray, have the critics all so blund'red, That none of them corrects this HUNDRED? Richard. Not that I know has any one Had any scruple thereupon. And for what reason, pray, should you? The reading, to be sure, is true; A hundred cupsthat is to say "Mæcenas! come, and drink away." John. If that was all the poet meant, It is express'd without the Cent. Sume, Mæcenas, cyathos Does it full well without the dose, The monstrous dose in cup or can, That suits with neither bard nor man. Richard. Nay, why so monstrous? Is it told How much the cyathus would hold? You think, perhaps, it was a mug, As round as any Jonian Jug. They drank all night; if small the glass, Would centum mount to such a mass? John. Small as you will, if 'twas a bumper, Centum for one would be a thumper. Its bulk Horatian terms define, Vates attonitus with nine; Gratia forbidding more than three They were no thimbles you may see. Richard. Not in that ode; in this they might Intend a more diminish'd plight; And then Mæcenas and the bard That night, I warrant ye, drank hard; Perfer in lucem, Horace cries To what a pitch might numbers rise! John. A desperate long night, my friend, Before their hundred cups could end; Nor does the verse invite, throughout, Mæcenas to a drunken bout: Perfer in lucem comes in view With procul omnis clamor too. Richard. Was it no bout, because no noise Should interrupt their midnight joys? Horace, you read, with annual tap, Notes his escape from dire mishap: Must he, and friends conven'd, be sober, Because 'twas March and not October? John. Sober or drunk is not the case, But word and meaning to replace, Both here demolish'd. Did they, pray, Do nothing else but drink away? For friends conven'd had Horace got No entertainment but to sot? Richard. Yes, to be sure, he might rehearse Some new or entertaining verse; Might touch the lyre, invoke the Muse, Or twenty things that he might choose; No doubt but he would mix along With cup and talk, the joyous SONG. John. Doubtless he would; and that's the word, For which a centum so absurd Has been inserted, by mistake Of his transcribers, scarce awake; Which all the critics when they keep, Are, quoad hoc, quite fast asleep. Richard. "And that's the word"What word d'ye mean? For song does centum intervene? Song would beO, I take your hint Cantum not centum you would print; Sospitis cantumbut the clause Can have no sense with such a pause. John. Pause then at sospitis, nor strike The three caesuras all alike; One cup of Helicon but quaff, The point is plain as a pikestaff; "The wine, the song, the lustre's light" The verse, the pause, the sense is right. Richard. Stay, let me read the Sapphic out Both ways, and then resolve the doubt Sume, Mæcenas, cyathos amici Sospitis centumet vigiles lucernas Perfer in lucemprocul omnis esto Clamor et Ira. Sume, Mæcenas, cyathos amici Sospitis, cantum, et vigiles lucernas Perfer in lucem: procul omnis esto Clamor et ira. Well, I confess, now I have read, The thing is right that you have said: One vowel rectified how plain Does Horace's intent remain! | Discover our Poem Explanations and Poet Analyses!Other Poems of Interest...ENVY OF OTHER PEOPLE'S POEMS by ROBERT HASS THE NINETEENTH CENTURY AS A SONG by ROBERT HASS THE FATALIST: TIME IS FILLED by LYN HEJINIAN OXOTA: A SHORT RUSSIAN NOVEL: CHAPTER 192 by LYN HEJINIAN LET ME TELL YOU WHAT A POEM BRINGS by JUAN FELIPE HERRERA JUNE JOURNALS 6/25/88 by JUAN FELIPE HERRERA FOLLOW ROZEWICZ by JUAN FELIPE HERRERA HAVING INTENDED TO MERELY PICK ON AN OIL COMPANY, THE POEM GOES AWRY by HICOK. BOB A HYMN FOR CHRISTMAS DAY (2) by JOHN BYROM |
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