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AN EPIGRAM. TO WILLIAM, EARL OF NEWCASTLE (1) by BEN JONSON

Poet Analysis

First Line: THEY TALK OF FENCING, AND THE USE OF ARMS
Last Line: AND VALIANT WERE, WITH, OR WITHOUT THEIR HANDS.
They talk of fencing, and the use of arms,
The art of urging, and avoiding harms,
The noble science, and the mastering skill
Of making just approaches how to kill:
To hit in angles, and to clash with time;
As all defence, or offence were a chime!
I hate such measured, give me mettled fire
That trembles in the blaze, but (then) mounts higher!
A quick, and dazzling motion! When a pair
Of bodies meet like rarified air!
Their weapons shot out, with that flame, and force,
As they outdid the lightning in the course;
This were a spectacle! A sight to draw
Wonder to valour! No, it is the law
Of daring, not to do a wrong is true
Valour! To slight it, being done to you!
To know the heads of danger! Where 'tis fit
To bend, to break, provoke, or suffer it!
All this (my lord) is valour! This is yours!
And was your father's! All your ancestors!
Who durst live great, 'mongst all the colds, and heats,
Of human life! As all the frosts, and sweats
Of fortune! When, or death appeared, or bands!
And valiant were, with, or without their hands.



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