DICTATE, O mighty judge, what thou hast seen Of cities, and of courts, of books, and men; And deign to let thy servant hold the pen. Through ages thus I may presume to live, And from the transcript of thy prose receive What my own short-lived verse can never give. Thus shall fair Britain with a gracious smile Accept the work; and the instructed isle, For more than treaties made, shall bless my toil. Nor longer hence the Gallic style preferred, Wisdom in English idiom shall be heard, While Talbot tells the world, where Montaigne erred. | Discover our Poem Explanations and Poet Analyses!Other Poems of Interest...JOE HILL LISTENS TO THE PRAYING by KENNETH PATCHEN ON THIS DAY I COMPLETE MY THIRTY-SIXTH YEAR by GEORGE GORDON BYRON THE WOODLARK by GERARD MANLEY HOPKINS ECCLESIASTICAL SONNETS: PART 1: 16. PERSUASION by WILLIAM WORDSWORTH HIMALAYA by WILLIMINA L. ARMSTRONG |