Tentanda via est, etc.
What shall I do to be forever known,
And make the age to come my own?
I shall like beasts or common people die,
Unless you write my elegy;
Whilst others great by being born are grown,
Their mothers’ labor, not their own.
In this scale gold, in th’other fame does lie,
The weight of that mounts this so high.
These men are fortune’s jewels, molded bright,
Brought forth with their own fire and light;
If I her vulgar stone, for either look,
Out of myself it must be strook.
Yet I must on : what sound is’t strikes mine ear?
Sure I Fame’s trumpet hear;
It sounds like the last trumpet, for it can
Raise up the buried man.
Unpassed Alps stop me, but I’ll cut through all,
And march, the Muses’ Hannibal.
Hence, all the flattering vanities that lay
Nets of roses in the way;
Hence, the desire of honors or estate
And all that is not above fate;
Hence, Love himself, the tyrant of my days,
Which intercepts my coming praise.
Come, my best friends, my books, and lead me on:
‘Tis time that I were gone.
Welcome, great Stagirite, and teach me now
All I was born to know;
Thy scholar’s vict’ries thou dost far outdo,
He conquered th’earth, the whole world you.
Welcome, learn’d Cicero, whose blest tongue and wit
Preserve Rome’s greatness yet:
Thou art the first of orators; only he
Who best can praise thee, next must be.
Welcome the Mantuan swan, Vergil the wise,
Whose verse walks highest, but not flies;
Who brought green poesy to her perfect age,
And made that art which was a rage.
Tell me, ye mighty three, what shall I do
To be like one of you?
But you have climbed the mountain’s top, there sit
On the calm flour’shing head of it,
And whilst with wearied steps we upward go,
See us and clouds below.
A few random poems:
- Kinu Goala’s Alley – English Translation by Rabindranath Tagore
- New Hampshire by Robert Frost
- Владимир Высоцкий – Наши добрые зрители
- May Magnificat poem – Gerard Manley Hopkins poems
- Robert Burns: For A’ That:
- Camps of Green. by Walt Whitman
- Choriambics — II by Rupert Brooke
- Priorities of Life and Death
- Ольга Высотская – Веселый поезд
- Василий Курочкин – Ни в мать, ни в отца
- Новелла Матвеева – Дома без крыш
- Inscriptions For A Seat In The Groves Of Coleorton by William Wordsworth
- Barnfloor and Winepress poem – Gerard Manley Hopkins poems
- Галина Гампер – Забываю я все
- Gift Of The Great – English Translation by Rabindranath Tagore
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 The High Price Of Fish by William Cowper
- On the Grasshopper (From The Greek) by William Cowper
- On The Death Of The Bishop Of Ely. Anno Aet. 17. (Translated From Milton) by William Cowper
- On The Death Of Mrs. Throckmorton’s Bullfinch by William Cowper
- On The Death Of Damon. (Translated From Milton) by William Cowper
- On The Benefit Received By His Majesty From Sea-Bathing, In The Year 1789 by William Cowper
- On The Author Of Letters On Literature by William Cowper
- On The Astrologers (From The Greek) by William Cowper
- On Receiving Heyne’s Virgil From Mr. Hayley by William Cowper
- On Receiving Hayley’s Picture by William Cowper
- On Receipt Of My Mother’s Picture by William Cowper
- On Pedigree. From Epicharmus by William Cowper
- On Pallas Bathing, From A Hymn Of Callimachus by William Cowper
- On One Ignorant And Arrogant (Translated From Owen) by William Cowper
- On Observing Some Names Of Little Note Recorded In The Biographia Britannica by William Cowper
- On Niobe (From The Greek) by William Cowper
- On Mrs. Montague’s Feather Hangings by William Cowper
- On Miltiades by William Cowper
- On Late Acquired Wealth (From The Greek) by William Cowper
- On Invalids (From The Greek) by William Cowper
More external links (open in a new tab):
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
The Poetry Repository – an online library of poems, poetry, verse and poetic works
Abraham Cowley (1618 – 1667), the Royalist Poet.Poet and essayist Abraham Cowley was born in London, England, in 1618. He displayed early talent as a poet, publishing his first collection of poetry, Poetical Blossoms (1633), at the age of 15. Cowley studied at Cambridge University but was stripped of his Cambridge fellowship during the English Civil War and expelled for refusing to sign the Solemn League and Covenant of 1644. In turn, he accompanied Queen Henrietta Maria to France, where he spent 12 years in exile, serving as her secretary. During this time, Cowley completed The Mistress (1647). Arguably his most famous work, the collection exemplifies Cowley’s metaphysical style of love poetry. After the Restoration, Cowley returned to England, where he was reinstated as a Cambridge fellow and earned his MD before finally retiring to the English countryside. He is buried at Westminster Abbey alongside Geoffrey Chaucer and Edmund Spenser. Cowley is a wonderful poet and an outstanding representative of the English baroque.