Classic and Contemporary Poetry
ADVICE TO MY BEST BROTHER, COLONEL FRANCIS LOVELACE, by RICHARD LOVELACE Poet Analysis Poet's Biography First Line: Frank, wilt live handsomely? Trust not too far Last Line: A cloudy tempest, and a too fair day. Subject(s): Advice; Human Behavior; Conduct Of Life; Human Nature | ||||||||
Frank, wilt live handsomely? Trust not too far Thyself to waving seas, for what thy star Calculated by sure event must be, Look in the glassy-epithet and see. Yet settle here your rest, and take your state, And in calm halcyon's nest ev'n build your fate; Prithee lie down securely, Frank, and keep With as much no-noise the inconstant deep As its inhabitants; nay, steadfast stand, As if discovered were a New-found-land Fit for plantation here; dream, dream still, Lulled in Dione's cradle, dream until Horror awake your sense, and you now find Yourself a bubbled pastime for the wind, And in loose Thetis' blankets torn and tossed: Frank, to undo thyself why art at cost? Nor be too confident, fixed on the shore, For even that too borrows from the store Of her rich neighbour, since now wisest know (And this to Galileo's judgement owe) The palsy earth itself is every jot As frail, inconstant, waving as that blot We lay upon the deep, that sometimes lies Changed, you would think, with's bottom's properties; But this eternal strange Ixion's wheel Of giddy earth ne'er whirling leaves to reel Till all things are inverted, till they are Turned to that antique confused state they were. Who loves the golden mean doth safely want A cobwebbed cot, and wrongs entailed upon 't; He richly needs a palace for to breed Vipers and moths, that on their feeder feed; The toy that we (too true) a mistress call, Whose looking-glass and feather weighs up all; And clothes which larks would play with, in the sun, That mock him in the night when's course is run. To rear an edifice by art so high That envy should not reach it with her eye, Nay, with a thought come near it -- wouldst thou know How such a structure should be raised? Build low. The blust'ring wind's invisible rough stroke More often shakes the stubborn'st, prop'rest oak, And in proud turrets we behold withal, 'Tis the imperial top declines to fall. Nor does heaven's lightning strike the humble vales, But high aspiring mounts batters and scales. A breast of proof defies all shocks of fate, Fears in the best, hopes in the worser state; Heaven forbid that, as of old, Time ever Flourished in spring so contrary, now never: That mighty breath which blew foul winter hither Can eas'ly puff it to a fairer weather. Why dost despair then, Frank? Aeolus has A Zephyrus as well as Boreas. 'Tis a false sequel, solecism, gainst those Precepts by fortune giv'n us, to suppose That, 'cause it is now ill, 'twill e'er be so; Apollo doth not always bend his bow, But oft uncrowned of his beams divine With his soft harp awakes the sleeping Nine. In strictest things magnanimous appear, Greater in hope, howe'er thy fate, than fear: Draw all your sails in quickly, though no storm Threaten your ruin with a sad alarm; For tell me how they differ, tell me pray, A cloudy tempest, and a too fair day. | Discover our Poem Explanations and Poet Analyses!Other Poems of Interest...THE ONE WHO WAS DIFFERENT by RANDALL JARRELL END OF THE WORLD by ROBINSON JEFFERS THE ANSWER by ROBINSON JEFFERS THE BROKEN BALANCE by ROBINSON JEFFERS TIME OF DISTURBANCE by ROBINSON JEFFERS THE UNCHANGEABLE by EDMUND CHARLES BLUNDEN A TIME PAST by DENISE LEVERTOV GRATIANA DANCING AND SINGING by RICHARD LOVELACE LA BELLA BONA ROBA by RICHARD LOVELACE THE GRASSHOPPER; TO MY NOBLE FRIEND MR. CHARLES COTTON by RICHARD LOVELACE |
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