Poetry Explorer- Classic Contemporary Poetry, AN ODE WRITTEN ON A GROTTO NEAR FARNHAM IN SURRY, CALL'D LUDLOW'S CAVE, by THOMAS WARTON THE ELDER


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Classic and Contemporary Poetry

AN ODE WRITTEN ON A GROTTO NEAR FARNHAM IN SURRY, CALL'D LUDLOW'S CAVE, by                     Poet's Biography
First Line: Close in this deep retreat
Last Line: "change it for a darker grave."
Subject(s): Death; Nature; Nymphs; Rest; Virtue; Dead, The


I.
CLOSE in this deep Retreat
O coolly let me sit,
Shelter'd from the sultry Day!
Sirius and Sol with burning Beams
So strike the gasping Fields below,
That not an Ox is heard to low,
Or little Warbler from his Throat
To pour the sweetly-winding Note.

II.
The Nymphs that keep this circling Wood,
And beauteous Naïads of the neighb'ring Flood,
With their Dew-dropping Hair,
Oft to this unadorned Cave repair,
To dance and trip it in a Round
On the smooth and hallow'd Ground;
And say—"That Dian's Grott, and Thetis' Bow'rs,
"Must yield in Coolness and in Shade to our's."—

III.
'Twas Here, as old Traditions tell,
A wither'd Witch was wont to dwell;
The magic Mutterings of whose Voice could call
A thousand Dæmons from their darksome Hall,
Bid haste the wild Winds from their Northern Caves,
Obscure the Moon, and rouse the roaring Waves:
Here LUD, retiring from fierce Battle came,
And from his Helmet quaff'd the cooling Stream;
Leant on his Spear, unrein'd his foamy Steed,
To pasture on the green, refreshful Mead.

IV.
Here what a solemn Silence reigns,
Save the Tinklings of a Rill,
That gushing from the hollow Hill,
Pensive, as it runs, complains.
But hark! methinks a Spirit speaks,
A Voice from the remotest Caverns breaks;——
"From the vain World learn, Mortal, to retire,
"With true Ambition to high Heav'n aspire;
"Grandeur and Glory trifling Hearts trepan,
"These Toys disdain, for Virtue makes the Man."—

V.
Let me therefore ever dwell,
In this twilight, solemn Cell,
For musing Melancholy made,
Whose Entrance venerable Oaks o'ershade,
And whose Roof that lowly bends,
With awful Gloom my serious Thoughts befriends:
Here let me dwell,
'Till Death shall say——"Thy Cavern leave,
"Change it for a darker Grave."





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