Poetry Explorer- Classic Contemporary Poetry, THE WILD GALLANT, REVIVED: PROLOGUE, by JOHN DRYDEN



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THE WILD GALLANT, REVIVED: PROLOGUE, by                 Poet Analysis     Poet's Biography
First Line: As some raw squire, by tender mother bred
Last Line: For ought I know, he may turn taile for ever.
Subject(s): Life; Love; Sin


As some raw Squire, by tender Mother bred,
Till one and Twenty keeps his Maidenhead;
(Pleas'd with some Sport, which he alone does find,
And thinks a Secret to all Humane kind,)
Till mightily in Love, yet half afraid,
He first attempts the gentle Dairymaid:
Succeeding there, and, led by the renown
Of Whetstones Park, he comes at length to Town:
Where enter'd by some School-fellow or Friend,
He grows to break Glass-Windows in the end:
His Valour too, which with the Watch began,
Proceeds to duell, and he kills his Man.
By such Degrees, while Knowledge he did want,
Our unfletch'd Author writ a Wild Gallant.
He thought him monstrous leud (I'll lay my Life)
Because suspected with his Landlords Wife;
But, since his Knowledge of the Town began,
He thinks him now a very civil Man;
And, much asham'd of what he was before,
Has fairly play'd him at three Wenches more.
'Tis some amends his Frailties to confess;
Pray pardon him his want of Wickedness.
He's towardly, and will come on apace;
His frank Confession shows he has some Grace.
You balk'd him when he was a young Beginner,
And almost spoyl'd a very hopeful Sinner;
But if once more you slight his weak indeavour,
For ought I know, he may turn taile for ever.





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