Poetry Explorer- Classic Contemporary Poetry, PROLOGUE TO THE UNIVERSITY OF OXFORD, 1680, by JOHN DRYDEN


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PROLOGUE TO THE UNIVERSITY OF OXFORD, 1680, by                 Poet Analysis     Poet's Biography
First Line: Thespis, the first professor of our art
Last Line: But who disturb'd both bishop and a crown.
Variant Title(s): Prologue To Sophonisba;the Prologue At Oxford, 1680
Subject(s): Art & Artists; Oxford University; Poetry & Poets


THESPIS, the first Professor of our Art,
At Country Wakes, Sung Ballads in a Cart.
To prove this true, if Latin be no Trespass,
Dicitur et Plaustris vexisse Poemata Thespis.
But Eschylus, say Horace in some Page,
Was the first Mountebank e'ertrod the Stage;
Yet Athens never knew your learned Sport
of tossing Poets in a Tennis-Court.
But 'tis the Talent of our English Nation
Still to be plotting some new Reformation;
And few years hence, if anarchy go on,
Jack Presbyter will here erect his Throne,
Knock out a Tub with Preaching once a Day.
And every Prayer be longer than a Play.
Then all you Heathen Wits shall go to pot
For disbelieving of a Popish plot:
Nor should we want the Sentence to depart
Ev'n in our first Original, a Cart.
Occham, Dun Scotus, must though learn'd go down,
As chief Supporters of the Triple Crown.
And Aristotle for destruction ripe:
Some say he call'd the Soul an Organ-pipe,
Which, by some little help of Derivation,
Shall thence be call'd a Pipe of Inspiration.
Your wiser Judgments further penetrate
Who late found out one Tare amongst the Wheat,
This is our Comfort: none e'er cried us down
But who disturb'd both Bishop and a Crown.





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