Poetry Explorer

Classic and Contemporary Poetry

TO A STRENUOUS CRITIC by WILLIAM WATSON

Poet Analysis

First Line: YOU SCORN AS IDLE - YOU WHO PRAISE
Last Line: AS VIVID AS A PULSING STAR.
Subject(s): CRITICISM & CRITICS; LOVELACE, RICHARD (1618-1657);
YOU scorn as idle -- you who praise
Each posturing hero of the herd --
The lofty bearing of a phrase,
The noble countenance of a word.

"This has no import for the age!"
And so your votive wreaths you heap
On him who brought unto our Stage
A mightier dulness o'er the deep.

Great Heaven! When these with clamour shrill
Drift out to Lethe's harbour bar,
A verse of Lovelace shall be still
As vivid as a pulsing star.



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