Poetry Explorer

Classic and Contemporary Poetry

TO SIR THOMAS ROE (2) by BEN JONSON

Poet Analysis

First Line: THAT THOU HAST KEPT THY LOVE, INCREASED THY WILL
Last Line: THY FACT IS MORE: LET TRUTH ENCOURAGE THEE.
Subject(s): ROE, SIR THOMAS (1581-1644);
That thou hast kept thy love, increased thy will,
Bettered thy trust to letters; that thy skill;
Hast taught thyself worthy thy pen to tread,
And that to write things worthy to be read:
How much of great example wert thou, Roe,
If time to facts, as unto men would owe?
But much it now avails, what's done, of whom:
The selfsame deeds, as diversely they come,
From place, or fortune, are made high, or low,
And even the praiser's judgement suffers so.
Well, though thy name less than our great ones' be,
Thy fact is more: let truth encourage thee.



Home: PoetryExplorer.net