Poetry Explorer- Classic Contemporary Poetry, PLEASURE RECONCILED TO VIRTUE, SELECTION, by BEN JONSON



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PLEASURE RECONCILED TO VIRTUE, SELECTION, by                 Poet Analysis     Poet's Biography
First Line: An eye of looking back were well
Last Line: Though place here make you known.


An eye of looking back were well,
Or any murmur that would tell
Your thoughts, how you were sent
And went,
To walk with pleasure, not to dwell.
These, these are hours by virtue spared
Herself, she being her own reward,
But she will have you know
That though
Her sports be soft, her life is hard.
You must return unto the hill,
And there advance
With labour, and inhabit still
That height and crown
From whence you ever may look down
Upon triumphed Chance.
She, she it is, in darkness shines.
'Tis she that still herself refines,
By her own light, to every eye
More seen, more known when vice stands by.
And though a stranger here on earth,
In heaven she hath her right of birth.
There, there is virtue's seat,
Strive to keep her your own;
'Tis only she can make you great,
Though place here make you known.





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