Poetry Explorer- Classic Contemporary Poetry, PICTURE OF SENECA DYING IN A BATH, BY JORDAIN, by MATTHEW PRIOR


Poetry Explorer

Classic and Contemporary Poetry

PICTURE OF SENECA DYING IN A BATH, BY JORDAIN, by                     Poet's Biography
First Line: While cruel nero only drains
Last Line: And lives and speaks, restored and whole.
Subject(s): Portraits; Seneca, Lucius Annaeus (4 Bc - 65 Ad)


While cruel Nero only drains
The moral Spaniard's ebbing veins,
By study worn, and slack with age,
How dull, how thoughtless is his rage!
Heightened revenge he should have took;
He should have burnt his tutor's book;
And long have reigned supreme in vice:
One nobler wretch can only rise;
'Tis he whose fury shall deface
The stoic's image in this piece.
For while unhurt, divine Jordain,
Thy work and Seneca's remain,
He still has body, still has soul,
And lives and speaks, restored and whole.





Discover our Poem Explanations and Poet Analyses!


Other Poems of Interest...
Home: PoetryExplorer.net