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:
- Sergei Esenin (Serguei Yesenin, Sergueï Essénine) – Sounds of Sorrow
- Олег Бундур – Тревожное время
- Untitled II by Yunus Emre
- Youth And The Pilgrim by Sara Teasdale
- Did You Never Know? by Sara Teasdale
- Easter Snow by Winifred Mary Letts
- The Death Of Huss poem – Alfred Austin
- Always Unsuitable by Marge Piercy
- Route Marchin’ by Rudyard Kipling
- World, Take Good Notice. by Walt Whitman
- Tears. by Walt Whitman
- The Municipal Gallery Revisited by William Butler Yeats
- The Poet poem – Amy Lowell poems | Poems and Poetry
- English Poetry. Madison Julius Cawein. Home. Мэдисон Джулиус Кавейн.
- Михаил Лермонтов – Боюсь не смерти я
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
- The Merry Guide poem – A. E. Housman
- The Lent Lily poem – A. E. Housman
- The Laws of God, The Laws of Man poem – A. E. Housman
- The Lads in Their Hundreds poem – A. E. Housman
- The Lads in Their Hundreds poem – A. E. Housman
- The Isle Of Portland poem – A. E. Housman
- The Immortal Part poem – A. E. Housman
- The Immortal Part poem – A. E. Housman
- The Grizzly Bear poem – A. E. Housman
- The Fairies Break Their Dances poem – A. E. Housman
- The Chestnut Casts His Flambeaux poem – A. E. Housman
- Tell me not here, it needs not saying poem – Alfred Edward Housman
- Tell me not here, it needs not saying poem – Alfred Edward Housman
- Shot? So Quick, So Clean an Ending? poem – A. E. Housman
- Shot? So Quick, So Clean an Ending? poem – A. E. Housman
- Say, Lad, Have You Things to Do? poem – A. E. Housman
- Say, Lad, Have You Things to Do? poem – A. E. Housman
- Reveille poem – A. E. Housman
- Others, I Am Not the First poem – A. E. Housman
- Others, I Am Not the First poem – A. E. Housman
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.