Classic and Contemporary Poetry
TO HIS LOVING KINSMAN THE AUTHOR, by JOHN WHITING First Line: When first I view'd the travails of thy quill Last Line: Thy love, and blood, till being cease to be. Subject(s): Whiting, Nathaniel (1615-1670) | ||||||||
WHEN first I view'd the travails of thy quill, I lik'd, approv'd, admir'd thy nimble skill In sudden raptures, fancies, judgement, phrase, Invention, quickness, life, detraction, praise -- So that I favour'd their conceit which feign'd The soul to be an harmony, and reign'd Amongst the senses with accounts and measures, All which thy lofty poesy entreasures, That quaintest warblers cannot with delight Outworth the poet in his lyric height. As those which with quick eyes where judgement sits, Thy vindication of poetic wits Do read, may see, whose swelling metres teach All aliens such high English that to reach Is harder than to like or belch forth scandals. Witness thy journey, Somnus, Morpheus, sandals, The orbs, gods, muses, critics, accusation, The poet's names, employments, vindication, These silenced my pen, it dared no more; Till, voic'd by thy Bellame again, her store Of suitors, one approv'd by friends, not her: Rivelezzo's wrath (wherein most parents err), Her grief, encloist'ring, entertainment high, Albino's heart and hers met in their eye, Their whisp'ring dalliance, Piazzella's care, Bardino's falsehood, their affections rare, Her disencloist'ring, and his nunning plot, The nuns' thick bellies, his repentant grot, His freedom, flight, encount'ring with his saint, His conjuration, prodigies, and plaint, The shepherd lout, Bellama's second quest, His ghosting, coming from th' Elysian rest, Their parles, his dis-enghosting, her denials, His rage, her kindness, both their loves and trials, Conrad's immuring, Piazzella's fury, His freedom, Foppo and his monkish jury, The lovers' ale-house cheer, bed, coarse apparel, The monks' strict quest, their finding, mirth, and quarrel, Their scape, fear, raddle, kinsman, and at length Their nuptial tede, when malice lost its strength. How thou hast shown (dear coz) thy art in arts, Let them express who brag of abler parts Than I, which have a bigger part in thee, Thy love, and blood, till being cease to be. | Discover our Poem Explanations and Poet Analyses!Other Poems of Interest...TO THE READER by WILLIAM PUREFOY IN AUTHOREM, AMICISSIMUM SUUM by JOSEPH ROSSE THE OPAL DREAM CAVE by KATHERINE MANSFIELD HOHENLINDEN by THOMAS CAMPBELL LEINSTER by LOUISE IMOGEN GUINEY DARBY AND JOAN by FREDERIC EDWARD WEATHERLY AT THE PICTURE-SHOW by KARLE WILSON BAKER |
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