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ODES: BOOK 2: ODE 5. ON LOVE OF PRAISE, by                 Poet Analysis     Poet's Biography
First Line: Of all the springs within the mind
Last Line: The suffrage of the good and wise.
Subject(s): Praise


I.

OF all the springs within the mind
Which prompt her steps in fortune's maze,
From none more pleasing aid we find
Than from the genuine love of praise.

II.

Nor any partial, private end
Such reverence to the public bears;
Nor any passion, virtue's friend,
So like to virtue's self appears.

III.

For who in glory can delight
Without delight in glorious deeds?
What man a charming voice can slight,
Who courts the echo that succeeds?

IV.

But not the echo on the voice
More, than on virtue praise, depends;
To which, of course, its real price
The judgment of the praiser lends.

V.

If praise then, with religious awe,
From the sole perfect judge be sought,
A nobler aim, a purer law,
Nor priest, nor bard, nor sage hath taught.

VI.

With which, in character the same,
Though in an humbler sphere it lies,
I count that soul of human fame,
The suffrage of the good and wise.





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