Poetry Explorer- Classic Contemporary Poetry, EPIGRAM: TO MY MUSE, by BEN JONSON


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EPIGRAM: TO MY MUSE, by                 Poet Analysis     Poet's Biography
First Line: Away, and leave me, thou thing most abhorred
Last Line: For worth he has not, he is taxed, not praised.


Away and leave me, thou thing most abhorred
That hast betrayed me to a worthless lord;
Made me commit most fierce idolatry
To a great image through thy luxury.
Be thy next master's more unlucky muse,
And, as thou hast mine, his hours, and youth abuse.
Get him the time's long grudge, the court's ill will;
And, reconciled, keep him suspected still.
Make him lose all his friends; and, which is worse,
Almost all ways, to any better course.
With me thou leav'st an happier muse than thee,
And which thou brought'st me, welcome poverty.

She shall instruct my after-thoughts to write
Things manly, and not smelling parasite.
But I repent me: stay. Whoe'er is raised,
For worth he has not, he is taxed, not praised.





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