Classic and Contemporary Poetry
TO THE MEMORY OF MY WORTHY FRIEND, COLONEL RICHARD LOVELACE, by CHARLES COTTON Poet Analysis Poet's Biography First Line: To pay my love to thee, and pay it so Last Line: That, maugre time and fate, it shall not die. Subject(s): Lovelace, Richard (1618-1657) | ||||||||
To pay my Love to thee, and pay it so, As honest men should what they justly owe, Were to write better of thy life than can Th' assured'st pen of the most worthy man: Such was thy composition, such thy mind Improv'd to Virtue, and from Vice refin'd. Thy Youth, an abstract of the World's best parts, Enur'd to Arms, and exercis'd in Arts; Which with the vigour of a man became Thine, and thy Country's pyramids of flame; Two glorious lights to guide our hopeful Youth Into the paths of Honour, and of Truth. These parts (so rarely met) made up in thee, What Man should in his full perfection be; So sweet a temper into every sense, And each affection breath'd an influence, As smooth'd them to a calm, which still withstood The ruffling passions of untamed blood, Without a wrinkle in thy face to show Thy stable breast could a disturbance know. In fortune humble, constant in mischance, Expert of both, and both serv'd to advance Thy name, by various trials of thy spirit, And give the testimony of thy merit; Valiant to envy of the bravest men, And learned to an undisputed pen, Good as the best in both, and great; but yet No dangerous courage; nor offensive wit: These ever serv'd, the one for to defend, The other nobly to advance thy Friend: Under which title I have found my name Fixed in the living Chronicle of Fame, To times succeeding; yet I hence must go Displeas'd I cannot celebrate thee so. But what respect, acknowledgment, and love, What these together, when improv'd, improve; Call it by any name (so it express Ought like a tribute to thy worthiness, And may my bounden gratitude become,) Lovelace I offer at thy honour'd tomb. And though thy Virtues many Friends have bred To love thee living, and lament thee dead, In characters far better couched than these, Mine will not blot thy Fame nor theirs increase; 'Twas by thine own great merits rais'd so high, That, maugre Time and Fate, it shall not die. | Discover our Poem Explanations and Poet Analyses!Other Poems of Interest...A FOOTNOTE TO A FAMOUS LYRIC by LOUISE IMOGEN GUINEY MOTTO RICHARD LOVELACE, LUCASTA. POSTHUME POEMS by MARCUS VALERIUS MARTIALIS TO HIS NOBLE FRIEND, MR. RICHARD LOVELACE, UPON HIS POEMS by ANDREW MARVELL TO MY MUSE (WITH ACKNOWLEDGMENTS TO THE SHADE OF COLONEL LOVELACE) by AUSTIN PHILIPS TO A STRENUOUS CRITIC by WILLIAM WATSON WHERE BEAUTY LINGERS by FRANKLIN PIERCE ADAMS LUCASTA REMAINS UNCONVINCED by KATHERINE MCALPINE LUCASTA REPLIES TO RICHARD LOVELACE by MARGARET ROGERS CAVALIER LYRIC by JAMES SIMMONS AN EPITAPH ON M.H. by CHARLES COTTON LAURA SLEEPING; ODE by CHARLES COTTON RESOLUTION OF A POETICAL QUESTION CONCERNING FOUR RURAL SISTERS: 2 by CHARLES COTTON |
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