Bold is the man! who, in this nicer age, Presumes to tread the chaste corrected stage. Now, with gay tinsel arts, we can no more Conceal the want of Nature's sterling ore. Our spells are vanish'd, broke our magic wand, That used to waft you over sea and land. Before your light the fairy people fade, The demons fly -- the ghost itself is laid. In vain of martial scenes the loud alarms, The mighty prompter thundering out, to arms, The playhouse posse clattering from afar, The close-wedged battle, and the din of war. Now, e'en the senate seldom we convene: The yawning fathers nod behind the scene. Your taste rejects the glittering false sublime, To sigh in metaphor, and die in rhyme. High rant is tumbled from his gallery throne: Description dreams -- nay, similes are gone. What shall we then? to please you how devise, Whose judgment sits not in your ears and eyes? Thrice happy! could we catch great Shakspere's art, To trace the deep recesses of the heart; His simple plain sublime, to which is given To strike the soul with darted flame from heaven; Could we awake soft Otway's tender wo, The pomp of verse and golden lines of Rowe. We to your hearts apply; let them attend; Before their silent candid bar we bend. If warm'd, they listen, 'tis our noblest praise; If cold, they wither all the Muse's bays. | Discover our Poem Explanations and Poet Analyses!Other Poems of Interest...THE REWARD by JAMES WELDON JOHNSON A CHILD'S PET by WILLIAM HENRY DAVIES THE OLD CHURCHYARD OF BONCHURCH by PHILIP BOURKE MARSTON JOHN BROWN OF OSAWATOMIE [OCTOBER 16, 1859] by EDMUND CLARENCE STEDMAN TO THE SOLITUDE OF FONTENAY by GUILLAUME AMFRYE THE SPIRIT AND THE CUP by A. E. ANDERSON THE GREAT BLACK CROW by PHILIP JAMES BAILEY LILIES: 4. BLOSSOMS ABOVE A TOMB by GEORGE BARLOW (1847-1913) |