Classic and Contemporary Poetry
TO MASTER JAMES SHIRLEY ON HIS GRATEFUL SERVANT, by THOMAS RANDOLPH Poem Explanation Poet Analysis Poet's Biography First Line: I cannot fulminate or tonitruate words Last Line: A friend as grateful as his servant was. Subject(s): Shirley, James (1596-1666) | ||||||||
I CANNOT fulminate or tonitruate words To puzzle intellects; my ninth lass affords No Lycophronian buskins, nor can strain Garagantuan lines to gigantise thy vein, Nor make a jusjurand, that thy great plays Are terra-del-fuegos or incognitas, Thy Pegasus, in his admir'd career, Curvets no capreoles of nonsense here. Wonder not, friend, that I do entertain Such language, that both think and speak so plain. Know, I applaud thy smooth and even strains, That will inform, and not confound, our brains. Thy Helicon like a smooth stream doth flow, While others with disturbed channels go, And headlong, like Nile's cataracts, do fall With a huge noise, and yet not heard at all. When thy intelligence on the Cockpit stage Gives it a soul from her immortal rage, I hear the Muses' birds with full delight Sing where the birds of Mars were wont to fight: Nor flatter I (thou knowest I do abhor it); Let others praise thy play, I'll do love thee for it; That he that knows my friend shall say, he has A friend as grateful as his servant was. | Discover our Poem Explanations and Poet Analyses!Other Poems of Interest...SONNETS ON ENGLISH DRAMATIC POETS: 14. JAMES SHIRLEY by ALGERNON CHARLES SWINBURNE FAIRIES' SONG by THOMAS RANDOLPH ODE TO MASTER ANTHONY STAFFORD [TO HASTEN HIM INTO COUNTRY] by THOMAS RANDOLPH UPON HIS PICTURE by THOMAS RANDOLPH A CHARACTER by THOMAS RANDOLPH A COMPLAINT AGAINST CUPID, THAT HE NEVER MADE HIM IN LOVE by THOMAS RANDOLPH A DIALOGUE BETWIXT A NYMPH AND A SHEPHERD by THOMAS RANDOLPH A MASK FOR LYDIA by THOMAS RANDOLPH A PARENETICON TO THE TRULY NOBLE GENTLEMAN MASTER ENDYMION PORTER by THOMAS RANDOLPH |
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