A poem by Alcaeus of Mytilene (c. 625/620 – c. 580 BC)
What constitutes a State?
Not high-raised battlement, or labored mound,
Thick wall or moated gate;
Not cities fair, with spires and turrets crown’d;
No:–Men, high-minded men,
With powers as far above dull brutes endued
In forest, brake or den,
As beasts excel cold rocks and brambles rude:–
Men who their duties know,
But know their rights, and knowing, dare maintain;
Prevent the long-aimed blow,
And crush the tyrant, while they rend the chain.
A few random poems:
- Power Of Music by William Wordsworth
- Юлия Друнина – Верность
- Soliloquy In A Tub poem – Amy Cavanaugh poems | Poems and Poetry
- Kitchener’s School by Rudyard Kipling
- Priorities of Life and Death
- Zunsheen In The Winter by William Barnes
- Candles by Sylvia Plath
- Вера Павлова – Плачу, потому что не можешь со мной жить
- Владимир Набоков – Есть в одиночестве свобода
- Baltimore Was Always Blue by Michael Salcman
- A November Night by Sara Teasdale
- Rendezvous
- Анатолий Жигулин – О, жизнь! Я всё тебе прощаю
- Валерий Брюсов – Фламандцам
- On The Porch At The Frost Place, Franconia, N. H. by William Matthews
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
- In Praise Of England poem – Alfred Austin
- Impromptu: To Frances Garnet Wolseley poem – Alfred Austin
- If I To You But Sorry Bring poem – Alfred Austin
- I Chide Not At The Seasons poem – Alfred Austin
- Hymn To Death poem – Alfred Austin
- Grandmother’s Teaching poem – Alfred Austin
- Gleaners Of Fame poem – Alfred Austin
- Farewell To Spring poem – Alfred Austin
- The Golden Age poem – Alfred Austin
- “The flower, full blown, now bends the stalk, now breaks” poem – Alfred Austin
- The Fallen Elm poem – Alfred Austin
- The Evening Light poem – Alfred Austin
- The Dregs Of Love poem – Alfred Austin
- The Door Of Humility poem – Alfred Austin
- The Death Of Huss poem – Alfred Austin
- The Dance At Darmstadt poem – Alfred Austin
- The Challenge Answered poem – Alfred Austin
- The Aquittal Of Phryne poem – Alfred Austin
- “Take not the Gods to task, for they are wise” poem – Alfred Austin
- Sweet Love Is Dead poem – Alfred Austin
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

Alcaeus of Mytilene ( c. 625/620 – c. 580 Before Christ) ] was a lyric poet from the Greek island of Lesbos who is credited with inventing the Alcaic stanza. He was included in the canonical list of nine lyric poets by the scholars of Hellenistic Alexandria.