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.

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Poems in English 

• Владимир Высоцкий – Вот и настал этот час опять by Владимир Высоцкий
• Владимир Высоцкий – Вот, главный вход by Владимир Высоцкий
• Владимир Высоцкий – Войны и голодухи натерпелися мы всласть by Владимир Высоцкий
• Владимир Высоцкий – Водой наполненные горсти by Владимир Высоцкий
• Владимир Высоцкий – Веселая покойницкая by Владимир Высоцкий
• Владимир Высоцкий – Побег на рывок by Владимир Высоцкий
• Владимир Высоцкий – В холода, в холода by Владимир Высоцкий
• Владимир Высоцкий – В тюрьме Таганской нас стало мало by Владимир Высоцкий
• Владимир Высоцкий – В тайгу by Владимир Высоцкий
• Владимир Высоцкий – В Средней Азии безобразие by Владимир Высоцкий
• Владислав Ходасевич – Опять во тьме. У наших ног by Всеволод Ходасевич
• Владислав Ходасевич – Окна во двор by Всеволод Ходасевич
• Владислав Ходасевич – Обо всем в одних стихах не скажешь by Всеволод Ходасевич
• Владислав Ходасевич – О, если б в этот час желанного покоя by Всеволод Ходасевич
• Владислав Ходасевич – Новый год by Всеволод Ходасевич
• Владислав Ходасевич – Ночь by Всеволод Ходасевич
• Владислав Ходасевич – Ни розового сада by Всеволод Ходасевич
• Владислав Ходасевич – Нет, не шотландской королевой by Всеволод Ходасевич
• Владислав Ходасевич – Нет, молодость, ты мне была верна by Всеволод Ходасевич
• Яков Полонский – Диссонанс by Яков Полонский

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