Poetry Explorer- Classic Contemporary Poetry, A MOCK CHARON; DIALOGUE: CHARON, WHARTON, by RICHARD LOVELACE


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A MOCK CHARON; DIALOGUE: CHARON, WHARTON, by                 Poet Analysis     Poet's Biography
First Line: Charon! Thou slave! Thou fool! Thou cavalier!
Last Line: And softly, softly breathe, lest you infect us too.
Subject(s): Charon; Styx (river)


W. Charon! Thou slave! Thou fool! Thou Cavalier!
Char. A slave, a fool---what traitor's voice I hear?
W. Come, bring thy boat. Char. No sir. W. No, sirrah! why?
Char. The blest will disagree, and fiends will mutiny
At thy, at thy unnumb'red treachery.
W. Villain, I have a pass, which who disdains,
I will sequester the Elysian plains.
Char. Woe 's me! Ye gentle shades! where shall I dwell?
He 's come! It is not safe to be in hell.

Chorus
Thus man, his honour lost, falls on these shelves;
Furies and fiends are still true to themselves.
Char. You must, lost fool, come in. W. Oh let me in!
But now I fear thy boat will sink with my o'er-weighty sin.
Where, courteous Charon, am I now? Char. Vile rant!
At th' gates of thy supreme judge, Rhadamant.

Double Chorus of Devils
Welcome to rape, to theft, to perjury,
To all the ills thou wert, we cannot hope to be.
Oh pity us condemn'd! Oh cease to woo,
And softly, softly breathe, lest you infect us too.





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