Some austere Catos be, that do not stick To term all poetry base that's dramatic: These contradict themselves; for bid them tell, How they like poesy, and they'll answer, well. But as a stately fabric, raised by The curious science of Geometry, If one side of the machine perish, all Participate with it a ruinous fall: So they are enemies to Helicon That vow they love all Muses, saving one. Such supercilious humours I despise, And like Thalia's harmless comedies. Thy Entertainment had so good a fate, That whosoe'er doth not admire thereat, Discloseth his own ignorance; for no True moralist would be suppos'd thy foe. In the pure Thespian spring thou hast refin'd Those harsh, rude precepts, which he did rehearse In heavy prose, to run in nimble verse. The Stagyrite will be slighted: who doth list To read or see't becomes a moralist; And if his eyes and ears are worth thine ore, Learn more in two hours than two years before. Thou hast my suffrage, friend, and I would fain Be a spectator of thy scenes again. | Discover our Poem Explanations and Poet Analyses!Other Poems of Interest...MERCILES BEAUTE; A TRIPLE ROUNDEL: 2. REJECTION by GEOFFREY CHAUCER THE SHEPHERD OF KING ADMETUS by JAMES RUSSELL LOWELL THE TEARES OF THE MUSES by EDMUND SPENSER PALINODE by THOMAS BAILEY ALDRICH THE NIGHT SONG by MARY DELL ALLEN SHELLEY'S DEATH by ALFRED AUSTIN BE DRUNK by CHARLES BAUDELAIRE TO THE MOONFLOWER by CRAVEN LANGSTROTH BETTS THE ORGANIST IN HEAVEN (SAMUEL SEBASTIAN WESLEY) by THOMAS EDWARD BROWN |