Poetry Explorer- Classic Contemporary Poetry, EPISTLE TO LORD BYRON: VIRTUE PROTESTS, by JOSEPH COTTLE


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Classic and Contemporary Poetry

EPISTLE TO LORD BYRON: VIRTUE PROTESTS, by                
First Line: From thy compeers in genius wisely learn
Last Line: To know that I shall ever reach the height!
Subject(s): Byron, George Gordon, Lord (1788-1824); Genius; Poetry & Poets; Virtue; Byron, George Gordon Byron, 6th Baron


FROM thy compeers in genius wisely learn:
From which of Southey's lines must virtue turn?
{Who, bold with Hell's vicegerents war to wage,
Brands the "Satanic school" to every age;
His visitings, Herculean, chief descending
Upon the "Head and front of the offending.")
Which verse shall Wordsworth ever blush to own?
Or Coleridge? spirit still of height unknown.
What tongue of Scotland's regal bard shall say,
Poison with pleasure mingles in his lay?
When shall Montgomery baneful lines bewail?
Or Crabbe? who haunts us like a nursery tale;
Bowles? Rogers? Barton? rich in Nature's store;
Or Campbell? would that I could add, or Moore!

STILL I toil.
How long and steep and cheerless the ascent!
It needs the evidence of close deduction
To know that I shall ever reach the height!





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