Poetry Explorer- Classic Contemporary Poetry, TO THE MOST LEARNED MAN, ... PRAECEPTOR MASTER BROOK, by RICHARD CRASHAW


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Classic and Contemporary Poetry

TO THE MOST LEARNED MAN, ... PRAECEPTOR MASTER BROOK, by                 Poet Analysis     Poet's Biography
First Line: O you who were never an unpleasant name to me
Last Line: He was the least of my [pupils]. But he was mine.
Subject(s): Brooke, Robert (17th Century)


O you who were never an unpleasant name to me,
even then when you were to be feared in the guise of a master!
I am he who at one time was the most unpunished member
of your kingdom, familiar with no labor of your rod,
I give to you this which will long complain of you
because I did not have to fear you too much:
because at your hands such a shameful boy as I withstood the lazy rule
of an inactive staff as much as the gentler dominance of your stick.
Of course something will be wrong in these pages,
which your rod at once may flog; that will be.
Therefore this page of mine may take your punishment for me.
Here much work for your rod is ready.
Therefore whatever in me the rod once spared too much,
let it take all its revenge on my child.
Here your finger will find enough in which it may go wild,
and which the editor's mark may cross through like a learned spit.
Obviously these are mine; these which are bad [most] obviously: o if
here there might be some better (which of course would be yours)!
Whatever they may be, these rivers know their own source.
(The Nile from an unknown source is haughty)
and surely there is something which is like its creator. Springs
are accustomed to be the fame and honor of their own river.
This book also so small (my times may speak of me)
was also the child of a mighty spring.
For this reason you yourself may wish to have said of me,
He was the least of my [pupils]. But he was mine.






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