Classic and Contemporary Poetry
DE ROSIS HIBERNIS, by EDMUND WILLIAM GOSSE Poet's Biography First Line: Ambitious nile, thy banks deplore Last Line: They cease to marvel at their own. Subject(s): Caesar, Julius (100-44 B.c.); Egypt; Nile (river) | ||||||||
AMBITIOUS Nile, thy banks deplore Their Flavian patron's deep decay; Thy Memphic pilot laughs no more To see the flower-boat float away; Thy winter-roses once were twined Across the gala-streets of Rome, And thou, like Omphale, couldst bind The vanquished victor in his home. But if the barge that brought thy store Had foundered in the Libyan deep, It had not slain thy glory more, Nor plunged thy rose in salter sleep; Nor gods nor Caesars wait thee now, No jealous Paestum dreads thy spring, Thy flower enfolds no augur's brow, Nor gives a poet strength to sing. Yet, surely, when the winds are low, And heaven is all alive with stars, Thy conscious roses still must glow Above thy dreaming nenuphars; They recollect their high estate, The Roman honours they have known, And while they ponder Caesar's fate They cease to marvel at their own. | Discover our Poem Explanations and Poet Analyses!Other Poems of Interest...THE QUEST FOR THE SOURCE OF THE NILE by ALBERT GOLDBARTH THE TRAVELLER AT THE SOURCE OF THE NILE by FELICIA DOROTHEA HEMANS THE NILE by JAMES HENRY LEIGH HUNT THE SECOND BROTHER; AN UNFINISHED DRAMA by THOMAS LOVELL BEDDOES THE PLAGUES OF EGYPT by ABRAHAM COWLEY OUT OF EGYPT by DOROTHEA DE PASS SONNET (TO THE NILE) by JOHN KEATS THE NILE by BENJAMIN FRANKLIN KING FEBRUARY IN ROME by EDMUND WILLIAM GOSSE |
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