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Classic and Contemporary Poetry
ODES: BOOK 1. ODE 1. PREFACE, by MARK AKENSIDE Poet Analysis Poet's Biography First Line: On yonder verdant hillock laid Last Line: To pleasure and to health. Subject(s): Contentment; Landscape | |||
I. ON yonder verdant hillock laid, Where oaks and elms, a friendly shade, O'erlook the falling stream, O master of the Latin lyre Awhile with thee will I retire From summer's noontide beam. II. And, lo, within my lonely bower, The industrious bee from many a flower Collects her balmy dews: "For me," she sings, "the gems are born, For me their silken robe adorn, Their fragrant breath diffuse." III. Sweet murmurer! may no rude storm This hospitable scene deform, Nor check thy gladsome toils; Still may the buds unsullied spring, Still showers and sunshine court thy wing To these ambrosial spoils. IV. Nor shall my muse hereafter fail Her fellow-labourer thee to hail; And lucky be the strains! For long, ago did nature frame Your seasons and your arts the same, Your pleasures and your pains. V. Like thee, in lowly, sylvan scenes, On river-banks and flowery greens My muse delighted plays; Nor through the desert of the air, Though swans or eagles triumph there, With fond ambition strays. VI. Nor where the boding raven chants, Nor near the owl's unhallow'd haunts Will she her cares employ; But flies from ruins and from tombs, From superstition's horrid glooms, To daylight and to joy. VII. Nor will she tempt the barren waste: Nor deigns the lurking strength to taste Of any noxious thing; But leaves with scorn to envy's use The insipid nightshade's baneful juice, The nettle's sordid sting. VIII. From all which nature fairest knows, The vernal blooms, the summer rose, She draws her blameless wealth; And, when the generous task is done, She consecrates a double boon, To pleasure and to health. | Discover our Poem Explanations and Poet Analyses!Other Poems of Interest...HOODED NIGHT by ROBINSON JEFFERS THE PLACE FOR NO STORY by ROBINSON JEFFERS THE BEAUTY OF THINGS by ROBINSON JEFFERS VARIATIONS ON A NEO-CLASSIC THEME by DONALD JUSTICE DIRGE AT THE END OF THE WOODS by LEONIE ADAMS KENNST DU DAS LAND by LEONIE ADAMS INVITATION TO A PAINTER: 3 by WILLIAM ALLINGHAM SONNET: 19. ON A BEAUTIFUL LANDSCAPE by WILLIAM LISLE BOWLES THE VIRTUOSO; IN IMITATION OF SPENCER'S STYLE AND STANZA by MARK AKENSIDE |
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