Poetry Explorer- Classic Contemporary Poetry, AN EPIGRAM. TO WILLIAM, EARL OF NEWCASTLE (2), by BEN JONSON


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AN EPIGRAM. TO WILLIAM, EARL OF NEWCASTLE (2), by                 Poet Analysis     Poet's Biography
First Line: When first, my lord, I saw you back your horse
Last Line: At these immortal mangers virgil fed.


When first, my lord, I saw you back your horse,
Provoke his mettle, and command his force
To all the uses of the field, and race,
Methought I read the ancient art of Thrace,
And saw a centaur, past those tales of Greece,
So seemed your horse and you, both of a piece!
You showed like Perseus upon Pegasus;
Or Castor mounted on his Cyllarus:
Or what we hear our home-born legend tell,
Of bold Sir Bevis, and his Arundel:
Nay, so your seat his beauties did endorse,
As I began to wish myself a horse:
And surely had I but your stable seen
Before, I think my wish absolved had been.
For never saw I yet the muses dwell,
Nor any of their household half so well.
So well, as when I saw the floor, and room,
I looked for Hercules to be the groom!
And cried, away with the Caesarian bread,
At these immortal mangers Virgil fed.





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