To urge, my loved Alphonso, that bold fame Of building towns, and making wild beasts tame, Which music had; or speak her known effects, That she removeth cares, sadness ejects, Declineth anger, persuades clemency, Doth sweeten mirth, and heighten piety, And is t' a body, often, ill inclined, No less a sovereign cure, than to the mind; To allege, that greatest men were not ashamed, Of old, even by her practice, to be famed; To say, indeed, she were the soul of heaven, That the eight spheres, no less, than planets seven, Moved by her order, and the ninth more high, Including all, were thence called harmony: I, yet, had uttered nothing on thy part, When these were but the praises of the art. But when I have said, the proofs of all these be Shed in thy songs; 'tis true: but short of thee. | Discover our Poem Explanations and Poet Analyses!Other Poems of Interest...TO HENRY LINCOLN JOHNSON - LAWYER by GEORGIA DOUGLAS JOHNSON THE ENGLISHMAN IN ITALY by ROBERT BROWNING SONNET: DANTE (2) by HENRY WADSWORTH LONGFELLOW THE GIFT by GEORGE WILLIAM RUSSELL THE CHILD ALONE: 1. THE UNSEEN PLAYMATE by ROBERT LOUIS STEVENSON |