Poetry Explorer- Classic Contemporary Poetry, HYMN TO THE SUN, by MATTHEW PRIOR


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Classic and Contemporary Poetry

HYMN TO THE SUN, by                     Poet's Biography
First Line: Light of the world, and ruler of the year
Last Line: And touch thy lyre, and shoot thy beams no more.
Subject(s): Heroism; Holidays; Light; New Year; Sun; Time; War; Heroes; Heroines


LIGHT of the world, and ruler of the year,
With happy speed begin thy great career;
And, as thou dost thy radiant journeys run,
Through every distant climate own,
That in fair Albion thou hast seen
The greatest prince, the brightest queen,
That ever saved a land, or blessed a throne,
Since first thy beams were spread, or genial power was known.

So may thy godhead be confessed,
So the returning year be blest,
As his infant months bestow
Springing wreaths for William's brow;
As his summer's youth shall shed
Eternal sweets around Maria's head:
From the blessings they bestow,
Our times are dated, and our eras move;
They govern and enlighten all below,
As thou dost all above.

Let our hero in the war
Active and fierce, like thee, appear;
Like thee, great son of Jove, like thee,
When clad in rising majesty,
Thou marchest down o'er Delos' hills confessed,
With all thy arrows armed, in all thy glory dressed.
Like thee, the hero does his arms employ,
The raging Python to destroy,
And give the injured nations peace and joy.

From fairest years, and Time's more happy stores,
Gather all the smiling hours;
Such as with friendly care have guarded
Patriots and kings in rightful wars;
Such as with conquest have rewarded
Triumphant victor's happy cares:
Such as story has recorded
Sacred to Nassau's long renown,
For countries saved, and battles won.

March them again in fair array,
And bid them form the happy day,
The happy day designed to wait
On William's fame, and Europe's fate.
Let the happy day be crowned
With great event, and fair success;
No brighter in the year be found,
But that which brings the victor home in peace.

Again thy godhead we implore,
Great in wisdom as in power;
Again, for good Maria's sake, and ours,
Choose out other smiling hours;
Such as with joyous wings have fled,
When happy counsels were advising;
Such as have lucky omens shed
O'er forming laws, and empires rising;
Such as many courses ran,
Hand in hand, a goodly train,
To bless the great Eliza's reign;
And in the typic glory show,
What fuller bliss Maria shall bestow.

As the solemn hours advance,
Mingled send into the dance
Many fraught with all the treasures,
Which thy eastern travel views;
Many winged with all the pleasures,
Man can ask, or Heaven diffuse;
That great Maria all those joys may know,
Which, from her cares, upon her subjects flow.

For thy own glory sing our sovereign's praise,
God of verses and of days;
Let all thy tuneful sons adorn
Their lasting work with William's name;
Let chosen Muses yet unborn
Take great Maria for their future theme.
Eternal structures let them raise,
On William's and Maria's praise;
Nor want new subject for the song;
Nor fear they can exhaust the store,
Till Nature's music lies unstrung;
Till thou, great God, shalt lose thy double power;
And touch thy lyre, and shoot thy beams no more.





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