The Challenge: A Court Ballad poem – Alexander Pope

A poem by Alexander Pope (1688-1744) , the greatest English poet of “Augustan” or Georgian period

I.

To one fair lady out of Court,

And two fair ladies in,

Who think the Turk and Pope a sport,

And wit and love no sin!

Come, these soft lines, with nothing stiff in,

To Bellenden, Lepell, and Griffin.

With a fa, la, la.

II.

What passes in the dark third row,

And what behind the scene,

Couches and crippled chairs I know,

And garrets hung with green;

I know the swing of sinful hack,

Where many damsels cry alack.

With a fa, la, la.

III.

Then why to Courts should I repair,

Where’s such ado with Townsend?

To hear each mortal stamp and swear,

And every speech with “Zounds” end;

To hear them rail at honest Sunderland,

And rashly blame the realm of Blunderland.

With a fa, la, la.

IV.

Alas! like Schutz I cannot pun,

Like Grafton court the Germans;

Tell Pickenbourg how slim she’s grown,

Like Meadows run to sermons;

To court ambitious men may roam,

But I and Marlbro’ stay at home.

With a fa, la, la.

V.

In truth, by what I can discern,

Of courtiers, ‘twixt you three,

Some wit you have, and more may learn

From Court, than Gay or Me:

Perhaps, in time, you’ll leave high diet,

To sup with us on milk and quiet.

With a fa, la, la.

VI.

At Leicester Fields, a house full nigh,

With door all painted green,

(A Milliner, I mean);

There may you meet us three to three,

For Gay can well make two of Me.

With a fa, la, la.

VII.

But should you catch the prudish itch,

And each become a coward,

Bring sometimes with you lady Rich,

And sometimes mistress Howard;

For virgins, to keep chaste, must go

Abroad with such as are not so.

With a fa, la, la.

VIII.

And thus, fair maids, my ballad ends;

God send the king safe landing;

And make all honest ladies friends

To armies that are standing;

Preserve the limits of those nations,

And take off ladies’ limitations.

With a fa, la, la.

Poetry Monster – Home

A few random poems:

External links

Bat’s Poetry Page – more poetry by Fledermaus

Talking Writing Monster’s Page –

Batty Writing – the bat’s idle chatter, thoughts, ideas and observations, all original, all fresh

Poems in English 

• On A Goldfinch, Starved To Death In His Cage by William Cowper by William Cowper
• On A Fowler, By Isidorus by William Cowper by William Cowper
• On A Battered Beauty (From The Greek) by William Cowper by William Cowper
• On A Bath, By Plato by William Cowper by William Cowper
• Olney Hymn 9: The Contrite Heart by William Cowper by William Cowper
• Olney Hymn 7: Vanity of the World by William Cowper by William Cowper
• Olney Hymn 68: Light Shining Out Of Darkness by William Cowper by William Cowper
• Olney Hymn 67: Longing To Be With Christ by William Cowper by William Cowper
• Olney Hymn 66: I Will Praise The Lord At All Times by William Cowper by William Cowper
• Olney Hymn 64: Praise For Faith by William Cowper by William Cowper
• Olney Hymn 63: Not Of Works by William Cowper by William Cowper
• Olney Hymn 61: The Narrow Way by William Cowper by William Cowper
• Olney Hymn 60: Abuse Of The Gospel by William Cowper by William Cowper
• Olney Hymn 59: A Living And A Dead Faith by William Cowper by William Cowper
• Olney Hymn 57: The New Convert by William Cowper by William Cowper
• Olney Hymn 56: Hatred Of Sin by William Cowper by William Cowper
• Olney Hymn 55: The Heart Healed And Changed By Mercy by William Cowper by William Cowper
• Olney Hymn 54: Love Constraining To Obedience by William Cowper by William Cowper
• Olney Hymn 53: My Soul Thirsteth For God by William Cowper by William Cowper
• Olney Hymn 52: For The Poor by William Cowper by William Cowper

More external links (open in a new tab):

Russian Commerce Agency

Dealing Monster

Doska or the Board – write anything

Search engines:

Yandex – the best search engine for searches in Russian (and the best overall image search engine, in any language, anywhere)

Qwant – the best search engine for searches in French, German as well as Romance and Germanic languages.

Ecosia – a search engine that supposedly… plants trees

Duckduckgo – the real alternative and a search engine that actually works. Without much censorship or partisan politics.

Yahoo– yes, it’s still around, amazingly, miraculously, incredibly, but now it seems to be powered by Bing.

 

Parallel Translations of Poetry

Poems by Author and Category

The Poetry Repository – an online library of poems, poetry, verse and poetic works