Poetry Explorer- Classic Contemporary Poetry, DE MUSA, by JOHN GODFREY SAXE


Poetry Explorer

Classic and Contemporary Poetry

DE MUSA, by                     Poet's Biography
First Line: Write a poem - solemn - earnest
Last Line: I shall be content!
Subject(s): Poetry & Poets


"WRITE a poem -- solemn -- earnest --
Worthy of your muse!"
Ah! when loving lips command me,
How can I refuse?
But the subject! -- that's the pother --
What am I to choose?

War? The theme is something hackneyed;
Since old Homer's time,
Half the minstrels, large and little,
Have been making rhyme
With intent to prove that murder
(Wholesale) is sublime!

Love? A most delicious topic;
But how many score,
Nay, how many thousand poets
Deal in Cupid's lore,
From Anacreon to Catullus,
Not to mention Moore.

Grief? Ah! little joy has Sorrow
In the mimic art;
Can the lyre's melodious moaning
Ease the mourner's smart,
Though the strings were very fibres
Of the player's heart?

Nature, -- posies, woods and waters?
Everlasting themes, --
Can the poets, in the rapture
Of their finest dreams,
Paint the lily of the valley
Fairer than she seems?

Metaphysics? Quite in fashion, --
But Apollo's curse
Blasts the syllogistic rhymer;
Why should I rehearse
Kant in cantos, or old Plato
Torture into verse?

Humor, satire, fun, and fancy,
Wit with wisdom blent, --
These, to give my Muse amusement,
Heaven has kindly lent;
Let her live and die a-laughing,
I shall be content!





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