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:
- Why Do All Good Things Come To An End? by Michael Yuan
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- Robert Burns: Epitaph For William Nicol, Of The High School, Edinburgh:
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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 Sun Was Slumbering in the West by Thomas Hood
- The Song of the Shirt by Thomas Hood
- The Haunted House by Thomas Hood
- The Dream of Eugene Aram by Thomas Hood
- The Death Bed by Thomas Hood
- The Bridge of Sighs by Thomas Hood
- Silence by Thomas Hood
- Ruth by Thomas Hood
- Past and Present by Thomas Hood
- On Mistress Nicely, a Pattern for Housekeepers by Thomas Hood
- November by Thomas Hood
- No! by Thomas Hood
- I Remember, I Remember by Thomas Hood
- Gold! by Thomas Hood
- Flowers by Thomas Hood
- Faithless Sally Brown by Thomas Hood
- Faithless Nelly Gray by Thomas Hood
- Death by Thomas Hood
- Christmas Holidays by Thomas Hood
- Autumn by Thomas Hood
More external links (open in a new tab):
Doska or the Board – write anything
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Ecosia – a search engine that supposedly… plants trees
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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.