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 

• Letters to the Otherworld by Fledermaus
• English Poetry. Katharine Tynan. A Woman Commends Her Little Son. Кэтрин Тайнен. by Poetry In English
• English Poetry. Francis Turner Palgrave. A Churchyard in Oxfordshire. Фрэнсис Тернер Палгрев. by Poetry In English
• English Poetry. Adam Lindsay Gordon. The Rhyme of Joyous Garde. Адам Линдсей Гордон. by Poetry In English
• English Poetry. Mary Wortley Montagu. Epigram, 1734. Мэри Уортли Монтегю. by Poetry In English
• English Poetry. Christina Georgina Rossetti. A Christmas Carol. Кристина Джорджина Россетти. by Poetry In English
• English Poetry. Adam Lindsay Gordon. Bellona. Адам Линдсей Гордон. by Poetry In English
• The Azure Sea of an alien tongue by Fledermaus
• Happy Victory Day – May 9, 2022 by Fledermaus
• English Poetry. Rupert Chawner Brooke. The Vision of the Archangels. Руперт Брук. by Poetry In English
• English Poetry. Ella Wheeler Wilcox. Wait. Элла Уилкокс. by Poetry In English
• English Poetry. Philip James Bailey. Festus – 29. Филип Джеймс Бэйли. by Poetry In English
• English Poetry. Philip James Bailey. Festus – 34. Филип Джеймс Бэйли. by Poetry In English
• English Poetry. Philip James Bailey. Festus – 23.1. Филип Джеймс Бэйли. by Poetry In English
• English Poetry. Philip James Bailey. Festus – 26. Филип Джеймс Бэйли. by Poetry In English
• English Poetry. Philip James Bailey. Festus – 21.1. Филип Джеймс Бэйли. by Poetry In English
• English Poetry. Philip James Bailey. Festus – 20. Филип Джеймс Бэйли. by Poetry In English
• English Poetry. Philip James Bailey. Festus – 42. Филип Джеймс Бэйли. by Poetry In English
• English Poetry. Philip James Bailey. Festus – 9. Филип Джеймс Бэйли. by Poetry In English
• English Poetry. Philip James Bailey. Festus – 45. Филип Джеймс Бэйли. by Poetry In English

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