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:
- England! awake! awake! awake! by William Blake
- Алишер Навои – На лице горит созвездье у красавицы моей
- The Danish Boy by William Wordsworth
- Faithless Sally Brown by Thomas Hood
- Obscurity, the Essay and Poems on Obscurity by Abraham Cowley
- Николай Языков – А. А. Елагину (Была прекрасна, весела…)
- “By Moscow Self-Devoted To A Blaze” by William Wordsworth
- Алексей Ржевский – Как я стал знать взор твой
- Robert Burns: O Bonie Was Yon Rosy Brier:
- John Sutter by Yvor Winters
- Across the Street from the Whitmore Home for Girls, 1949 by Rachel McKibbens
- Drowned in Illusion by Rixa White
- To Clementina Black poem – Amy Levy poems | Poems and Poetry
- Sonnet CXX by William Shakespeare
- Владимир Маяковский – Севастопольский корреспондент “Матен” сообщает… (РОСТА №507)
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
- Song—Willie brew’d a Peck o’ Maut by Robert Burns
- Song—The Tear-drop—“Wae is my heart” by Robert Burns
- Song—The Highland Balou by Robert Burns
- Song—The Fall of the Leaf by Robert Burns
- Song—The Birks of Aberfeldy by Robert Burns
- Song—Sweet Afton by Robert Burns
- Song—Stay my Charmer by Robert Burns
- Song—She’s Fair and Fause by Robert Burns
- Song—O Tibbie, I hae seen the day by Robert Burns
- Song—O let me in this ae night by Robert Burns
- Song—O can ye Labour Lea? by Robert Burns
- Song—Fragment—Leezie Lindsay by Robert Burns
- Song—Farewell to the Highlands by Robert Burns
- Song—Farewell to the Banks of Ayr by Robert Burns
- Song—Blythe hae I been on yon hill by Robert Burns
- Song—Beware o’ Bonie Ann by Robert Burns
- Song—Bessy and her Spinnin Wheel by Robert Burns
- Song—Behold the Hour, the Boat, arrive by Robert Burns
- Song—Behold, my love, how green the groves by Robert Burns
- Song—Awa’, Whigs, Awa’ by Robert Burns
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.