The vale of Tempe had in vain been fair, Green Ida never deemed the nurse of Jove; Each fabled stream, beneath its covert grove, Had idly murmured to the idle air; The shaggy wolf had kept his horrid lair In Delphi's cell, and old Trophonius' cave, And the wild wailing of the Ionian wave Had never blended with the sweet despair Of Sappho's death-song: if the sight inspired Saw only what the visual organs show, If heaven-born phantasy no more required Than what within the sphere of sense may grow. The beauty to perceive of earthly things, The mounting soul must heavenward prune her wings. | Discover our Poem Explanations and Poet Analyses!Other Poems of Interest...TO A YOUNG ASS; ITS MOTHER BEING TETHERED NEAR IT by SAMUEL TAYLOR COLERIDGE ODE FOR MEMORIAL DAY by PAUL LAURENCE DUNBAR THE GORSE by WILFRID WILSON GIBSON VICKSBURG by PAUL HAMILTON HAYNE CA' THE YOWES TO THE KNOWES' by ISOBEL (ISABEL) PAGAN DRAPIER'S HILL by JONATHAN SWIFT |