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...THREE GRAINS OF CORN; THE IRISH FAMINE by AMELIA BLANDFORD EDWARDS VOICES OF THE NIGHT: PRELUDE by HENRY WADSWORTH LONGFELLOW THE SOLITARY WOODSMAN by CHARLES GEORGE DOUGLAS ROBERTS ASTROPHEL AND STELLA: 63 by PHILIP SIDNEY THE SCHOOL GIRL by WILLIAM HENRY VENABLE THE LITTLE KNIGHT IN GREEN by KATHARINE LEE BATES |