Poetry Explorer- Classic Contemporary Poetry, LINES ADDED TO WYCHERLEY'S POEMS: 4. SIMILITUDES, by ALEXANDER POPE


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Classic and Contemporary Poetry

LINES ADDED TO WYCHERLEY'S POEMS: 4. SIMILITUDES, by                 Poet Analysis     Poet's Biography
First Line: Thus either men in private useless ease
Last Line: Kept fresh by motion, and unchang'd by change.


Thus either Men in private useless Ease
Lose a dull Length of undeserving Days;
Or Waste, for others Use, their restless Years
In busie Tumults, and in publick Cares,
And run precipitant, with Noise and Strife,
Into the vast Abyss of future Life;
Or others Ease and theirs alike destroy,
Their own Destruction by their Industry.

So Waters Putrifie with Rest, and lose
At once their Motion, Sweetness, and their Use;
Or haste in headlong Torrents to the Main,
To lose themselves by what shou'd them maintain,
And in th' impetuous Course themselves the sooner drain:
Neglect their Native Channel, Neighb'ring Coast,
Abroad in foreign Service to be lost;
Or else their Streams, when hinder'd in their Course,
Quite o'er the Banks to their own Ruin force.

The Stream of Life shou'd more securely flow
In constant Motion, nor too swift nor slow,
And neither swell too high, nor sink too low;
Not always glide thro' gloomy Vales, and rove
('Midst Flocks and Shepherds) in the silent Grove;
But more diffusive in its wand'ring Race;
Serve peopled Towns, and stately Cities grace;
Around in sweet Meanders wildly range,
Kept fresh by Motion, and unchang'd by Change.





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