Licentiate of the schools, with knowledge hot, A stranger hither came--our dames to frighten-- Who talked to us of Christ, the Sybil's grot, Glanced at Copernick, though he knew him not, And showed us hell and where the blest abide. "The stars," he said, "that round the North-star glide-- For there is heaven--tell nightly as they brighten." "But do they move?" I said. "Or is it so?" He answered tranquilly, "We see they do." It was enough. The crowd was satisfied, And I was hushed--yet felt my color heighten. Was he a knave, a coxcomb, or a clown, Who stooping thus, our ignorance to enlighten, Ended by so illuminating his own? | Discover our Poem Explanations and Poet Analyses!Other Poems of Interest...THE CHAM TOWERS AT DA NANG by KAREN SWENSON NAPEOLON'S FAREWELL; FROM THE FRENCH by GEORGE GORDON BYRON NO LONGER COULD I DOUBT HIM TRUE by WALTER SAVAGE LANDOR THE FIGHT OF THE ARMSTRONG PRIVATEER by JAMES JEFFREY ROCHE SCORN NOT THE LEAST by ROBERT SOUTHWELL ODES: BOOK 2: ODE 14. THE COMPLAINT by MARK AKENSIDE EPITAPHS by THOMAS BAILEY ALDRICH SONNETS OF MANHOOD: 38. THE RETREAT FROM MOSCOW by GEORGE BARLOW (1847-1913) |