Classic and Contemporary Poetry
HALF HOURS WITH THE CLASSICS, by H. J. DEBURGH First Line: Ah, those hours when by-gone sages Last Line: Somewhat doubtful quantities. Subject(s): Books; Past; Reading | ||||||||
AH, those hours when by-gone sages Led our thoughts through Learning's ways, When the wit of sunnier ages, Called once more to Earth the days When rang through Athens' vine-hung lanes Thy wild, wild laugh, Aristophanes! Pensive through the land of Lotus, Sauntered we by Nilus' side; Garrulous old Herodotus Still our mentor, still our guide, Prating of the mystic bliss Of Isis and of Osiris. All the learn'd ones trooped before us, All the wise of Hellas' land, Down from mythic Pythagoras, To the hemlock drinker grand. Dark the hour that closed the gates Of gloomy Dis on thee, Socrates. Ah, those hours of tend'rest study, When Electra's poet told Of Love's cheek once warm and ruddy, Pale with grief, with death chill cold! Sobbing low like summer tides Flow thy verses, Euripides! High our hearts beat when Cicero Shook the Capitolian dome; How we shuddered, watching Nero 'Mid the glare of blazing Rome! How those records still affright us On thy gloomy page, Tacitus! Back to youth I seem to glide, as I recall those by-gone scenes, When we conned o'er Thucydides, Or recited Demosthenes. L'ENVOI Ancient sages, pardon these Somewhat doubtful quantities. | Discover our Poem Explanations and Poet Analyses!Other Poems of Interest...TWO SONNETS: 1 by DAVID LEHMAN THE ILLUSTRATION?ÇÖA FOOTNOTE by DENISE LEVERTOV FALLING ASLEEP OVER THE AENEID by ROBERT LOWELL POETRY MACHINES by CATE MARVIN LENDING LIBRARY by PHYLLIS MCGINLEY AN ODE, PARAPHRASED: THE CUP by ANACREON MONNA INNOMINATA, A SONNET OF SONNETS: 13 by CHRISTINA GEORGINA ROSSETTI |
|