Poetry Explorer- Classic Contemporary Poetry, THE POET'S LICENSE, by JOHN GODFREY SAXE


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Classic and Contemporary Poetry

THE POET'S LICENSE, by                     Poet's Biography
First Line: The poet's license! - some there are
Last Line: To have and hold forever!
Subject(s): Poetry & Poets


THE Poet's License! -- Some there are
Who hold the false opinion
'T is but a meagre privilege
Confined to Art's dominion;
The right to rhyme quite unrestrained
By certain rigid fetters
Which bind the colder men of prose
Within the realm of letters.

Ah no! -- I deem 't is something more,
And something vastly higher,
To which the proudest bard on earth
May worthily aspire.
The Poet's License! -- 't is the right,
Within the rule of duty,
To look on all delightful things
Throughout the world of beauty.

To gaze with rapture at the stars
That in the skies are glowing;
To see the gems of perfect dye
That in the woods are growing,
And more than sage astronomer,
And more than learned florist,
To read the glorious homilies
Of Firmament and Forest.

When Nature gives a gorgeous rose,
Or yields the simplest fern,
She writes this motto on the leaves, --
"To whom it may concern!"
And so it is the poet comes
And revels in her bowers,
And, though another hold the land,
Is owner of the flowers.

O, nevermore let Ignorance
With heedless iteration
Repeat the phrase as meaning aught
Of trivial estimation;
The Poet's License! -- 't is the fee
Of earth and sky and river
To him who views them royally,
To have and hold forever!





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