I. I THINK thou art not well advised, my friend, To bring thy spritely Poems on the stage Now when the Muses' empire's at an end And there's none left that feel poetic rage, Now Cowley's dead, the glory of the age, And all the lesser singing birds are starved i'th' cage. II. Nor was it well done to permit my bush, My holly bush, to hang before thy wine, For friends' applauses are not worth a rush, And every fool can get a gilded sign. In troth I have no faculty at praise; My bush is very full of thorns, though it seems bays. III. When I would praise I cannot find a rhyme, But if I have a just pretence to rail, They come in numerous throngs at any time, Their everlasting fountains never fail, They come in troops and for employment pray; If I have any wit, it lies only that way. IV. But yet I'll try, if thou wilt rid thy mind Of thoughts of rhyming and of writing well, And bend thy studies to another kind -- I mean, in craft and riches to excel; If thou desert thy friends and better wine, And pay'st no more attendance on the needy Nine. Go, and renounce thy wit and thy good parts -- Wit and good parts, great enemies to wealth, -- And barter honesty for more thriving arts, Prize gold before a good name, ease, and health. Answer the Dog and Bottle, and maintain There's great ease in a yoke, and freedom in a chain. VI. I'll love thee now when this is done, I'll try To sing thy praise, and force my honest Muse to lie. | Discover our Poem Explanations and Poet Analyses!Other Poems of Interest...SELF-INTERROGATION by EMILY JANE BRONTE FREDERICK DOUGLASS by PAUL LAURENCE DUNBAR THE END OF THE EPISODE by THOMAS HARDY THE STRANGER by LAWRENCE ALMA-TADEMA IN THE DEEP WHITE SNOW by ANNE ATWOOD FULFILLMENT by CLARIBEL WEEKS AVERY STORM ON SEACONNET by GEORGE SHEPARD BURLEIGH ON MR. CRUIKSHANK OF THE HIGH SCHOOL, EDINBURGH by ROBERT BURNS |