Poetry Explorer- Classic Contemporary Poetry, PLEASURE RECONCILED TO VIRTUE: HYMN TO COMUS, by BEN JONSON


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PLEASURE RECONCILED TO VIRTUE: HYMN TO COMUS, by                 Poet Analysis     Poet's Biography
First Line: Room, room, make room for the bouncing belly
Last Line: Thou break'st all thy girdles, and break'st forth a god.
Variant Title(s): Hymn To The Belly;comus's Song
Subject(s): Bellies; Gluttony


Room, room, make room for the bouncing belly,
First father of sauce, and deviser of jelly,
Prime master of arts, and the giver of wit,
That found out the excellent engine, the spit,
The plough, and the flail, the mill, and the hopper,
The hutch, and the boulter, the furnace, and copper,
The oven, the bavin, the mawkin, the peel,
The hearth, and the range, the dog and the wheel,
He, he first invented the hogshead and tun,
The gimlet and vice too, and taught 'em to run.
And since, with the funnel, an Hippocras bag
He's made of himself, that now he cries swag.
Which shows, though the pleasure be but of four inches,
Yet he is a weasel, the gullet that pinches,
Of any delight, and not spares from the back
Whatever to make of the belly a sack.
Hail, hail, plump paunch, O the founder of taste
For fresh meats, or powdered, or pickle, or paste;
Devourer of broiled, baked, roasted or sod,
And emptier of cups, be they even or odd;
All which have now made thee so wide in the waist
As scarce with no pudding thou art to be laced;
But eating and drinking until thou dost nod,
Thou break'st all thy girdles, and break'st forth a god.





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