Classic and Contemporary Poetry
ODE AGAINST PLEASURE, by KATHERINE PHILIPS Poet Analysis Poet's Biography First Line: There's no such thing as pleasure here, / 'tis all a perfect cheat Last Line: "who said of pleasure, - ""it is mad." Alternate Author Name(s): Orinda Variant Title(s): Against Pleasure Subject(s): Pleasure | ||||||||
There's no such thing as pleasure here, 'Tis all a perfect cheat, Which does but shine and disappear, Whose charm is but deceit: The empty bribe of yielding souls, Which first betrays, and then controls. 'Tis true, it looks at distance fair, But if we do approach, The fruit of Sodom will impair, And perish at a touch; It being than in fancy less, And we expect more than possess. For by our pleasures we are cloy'd And so desire is done; Or else, like rivers, they make wide The channels where they run; And either way true bliss destroys, Making us narrow, or our joys. We covet pleasure easily, But ne'er true bliss possess; For many things must make it be, But one may make it less. Nay, were our state as we would choose it, 'Twould be consumed by fear to lose it. What art thou, then, thou winged air, More weak and swift than fame? Whose next successor is despair, And its attendant shame. The experienced prince then reason had Who said of Pleasure, - "It is mad." | Discover our Poem Explanations and Poet Analyses!Other Poems of Interest...THE TRIP FROM CALIFORNIA by KENNETH KOCH GIVE BACK, GIVE BACK by MARVIN BELL THE GAIETY OF FORM by ROBERT BLY DEDICATION IN THESE DAY by HAYDEN CARRUTH THE OPEN HAPPENS IN THE MIDST OF BEINGS; MARTIN HEIDEGGER by NORMAN DUBIE UNHOLY SONNET: 25 by MARK JARMAN FRIENDSHIP'S MYSTERY, TO MY DEAREST LUCASIA by KATHERINE PHILIPS LUCASIA, ROSANIA, AND ORINDA PARTING AT A FOUNTAIN by KATHERINE PHILIPS |
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