Poetry Explorer- Classic Contemporary Poetry, SAPPHO AND PHAON: 1. SONNET INTRODUCTORY, by MARY DARBY ROBINSON


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Classic and Contemporary Poetry

SAPPHO AND PHAON: 1. SONNET INTRODUCTORY, by                     Poet's Biography
First Line: Favored by heaven are those, ordained to taste
Last Line: And show his fainting soul, -- a glimpse of heaven.


Favored by Heaven are those, ordained to taste
The bliss supreme that kindles fancy's fire;
Whose magic fingers sweep the muses' lyre,
In varying cadence, eloquently chaste!
Well may the mind, with tuneful numbers graced,
To Fame's immortal attributes aspire,
Above the treacherous spells of low desire,
That wound the sense, by vulgar joys debased.
For thou, blest Poesy! with godlike powers
To calm the miseries of man wert given;
When passion rends, and hopeless love devours,
By memory goaded, and by frenzy driven,
'Tis thine to guide him 'midst Elysian bowers,
And show his fainting soul, -- a glimpse of Heaven.





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