Classic and Contemporary Poetry
THE FLATTING MILL; AN ILLUSTRATION, by WILLIAM COWPER Poet Analysis Poet's Biography First Line: When a bar of pure silver or ingot of gold Last Line: And unless you adorn it, a nausea follows. | ||||||||
WHEN a bar of pure silver or ingot of gold Is sent to be flatted or wrought into length, It is passed between cylinders often, and rolled In an engine of utmost mechanical strength. Thus tortured and squeezed, at last it appears Like a loose heap of ribbon, a glittering show, Like music it tinkles and rings in your ears, And warmed by the pressure, is all in a glow. This process achieved, it is doomed to sustain The thump after thump of a gold-beater's mallet, And at last is of service in sickness or pain To cover a pill for a delicate palate. Alas for the poet! who dares undertake To urge reformation of national ill-- His head and his heart are both likely to ache With the double employment of mallet and mill. If he wish to instruct, he must learn to delight; Smooth, ductile, and even, his fancy must flow, Must tinkle and glitter like gold to the sight, And catch in its progress a sensible glow. After all, he must beat it as thin and as fine As the leaf that enfolds what an invalid swallows; For truth is unwelcome, however divine, And unless you adorn it, a nausea follows. | Discover our Poem Explanations and Poet Analyses!Other Poems of Interest...A COMPARISON [ADDRESSED] TO A YOUNG LADY by WILLIAM COWPER BOADICEA; AN ODE by WILLIAM COWPER EPITAPH ON A HARE by WILLIAM COWPER OLNEY HYMNS: 1. WALKING WITH GOD by WILLIAM COWPER OLNEY HYMNS: 18. LOVEST THOU ME? by WILLIAM COWPER OLNEY HYMNS: 35. LIGHT SHINING OUT OF DARKNESS by WILLIAM COWPER OLNEY HYMNS: 49. JOY AND PEACE IN BELIEVING by WILLIAM COWPER OLNEY HYMNS: 9. THE CONTRITE HEART by WILLIAM COWPER ON THE DEATH OF MRS. (NOW LADY) THROCKMORTON'S BULLFINCH by WILLIAM COWPER ON THE LOSS OF THE ROYAL GEORGE by WILLIAM COWPER ON THE RECEIPT OF MY MOTHER'S PICTURE [OUT OF NORFOLK] by WILLIAM COWPER |
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