Poetry Explorer- Classic Contemporary Poetry, ODE, by BEN JONSON



Poetry Explorer

Classic and Contemporary Poetry

ODE, by                 Poet Analysis     Poet's Biography
First Line: If men and times were now
Last Line: Who worthy win, who not, to be wise pallas' guests.


If men, and times were now
Of that true face
As when they both were great, and both knew how
That fortune to embrace,
By cherishing the spirits that gave their greatness grace:
I then could raise my notes
Loud to the wondering throng
And better blazon them, than all their coats,
That were the happy subject of my song.

But, clownish pride hath got
So much the start
Of civil virtue, that he now is not
Nor can be of desert,
That hath not country impudence enough to laugh at art,
Whilst like a blaze of straw,
He dies with an ill scent,
To every sense, and scorn to those that saw
How soon with a self-tickling he was spent.

Break then thy quills, blot out
Thy long watched verse
And rather to the fire, than to the rout
Their laboured tunes rehearse,
Whose air will sooner hell, than their dull senses pierce;
Thou that dost spend thy days
To get thee a lean face,
And come forth worthy ivy, or the bays,
And in this age, canst hope no other grace.

Yet since the bright, and wise,
Minerva deigns
Upon so humbled earth to cast her eyes:
We'll rip our richest veins
And once more strike the ear of time with those fresh strains:
As shall besides delight
And cunning of their ground
Give cause to some of wonder, some despite,
But unto more despair to imitate their sound.

Throw, Holy Virgin, then,
Thy crystal shield
About this isle, and charm the round, as when
Thou mad'st in open field
The rebel giants stoop, and Gorgon envy yield,
Cause reverence, if not fear,
Throughout their general breasts,
And by their taking, let it once appear
Who worthy win, who not, to be wise Pallas' guests.





Discover our Poem Explanations and Poet Analyses!


Other Poems of Interest...



Home: PoetryExplorer.net