RECORDED IN THE "BIOGRAPHIA BRITANNICA." OH, fond attempt to give a deathless lot To names ignoble, born to be forgot! In vain, recorded in historic page, They court the notice of a future age: Those twinkling tiny lustres of the land Drop one by one from Fame's neglecting hand; Lethaean gulfs receive them as they fall, And dark oblivion soon absorbs them all. So when a child (as playful children use) Has burnt to tinder a stale last-year's news, The flame extinct, he views the roving fire-- There goes my lady, and there goes the squire, There goes the parson, oh illustrious spark! And there, scarce less illustrious, goes the clerk! | Discover our Poem Explanations and Poet Analyses!Other Poems of Interest...ON THE PROPOSAL TO ERECT A MONUMENT IN ENGLAND TO LORD BYRON by EMMA LAZARUS THOMAS HOOD by EDWIN ARLINGTON ROBINSON VILLANELLE by JOACHIM DU BELLAY SONNET: ONE NEW YEAR'S EVE by LOUISA SARAH BEVINGTON A GOTHAMITE IN CAMELOT by BERTON BRALEY GIFTS AND GIVERS by BERTON BRALEY ELEGY ON A LADY, WHOM GRIEF FOR THE DEATH OF HER BETHROTHED KILLED by ROBERT SEYMOUR BRIDGES |