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:
- House Of Silence by Philip Levine
- A Statesman’s Holiday by William Butler Yeats
- The Water Crowvoot by William Barnes
- Crepuscule du Matin poem – Amy Lowell poems | Poems and Poetry
- Владимир Высоцкий – Я всё чаще думаю о судьях
- Last Words poem – Amy Levy poems | Poems and Poetry
- Rain After a Vaudeville Show by Stephen Vincent Benet
- Stones
- Human Joys
- “By Moscow Self-Devoted To A Blaze” by William Wordsworth
- Saison Noir by Shaunna Harper
- Джон Донн – Когда я с ней, с моим бесценным кладом
- A Welcome by William Browne
- You Ask Me, Why, Tho’ Ill at Ease poem – Lord Alfred Tennyson poems
- Иннокентий Анненский – Еврипид. Геракл (перевод)
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
- Николай Заболоцкий – Старость
- Николай Заболоцкий – Старая актриса
- Николай Заболоцкий – Сон
- Николай Заболоцкий – Смерть врача
- Николай Заболоцкий – Слепой
- Николай Заболоцкий – Сказка о кривом человечке
- Николай Заболоцкий – Шакалы
- Николай Заболоцкий – Сентябрь
- Николай Заболоцкий – Счастливый день
- Николай Заболоцкий – Рыбная лавка
- Николай Заболоцкий – Рубрук в Монголии
- Николай Заболоцкий – Разговор с медведем
- Николай Заболоцкий – Птичий двор
- Николай Заболоцкий – Противостояние Марса
- Николай Заболоцкий – Прощание
- Николай Заболоцкий – Приглашение на пир
- Николай Заболоцкий – Предостережение
- Николай Заболоцкий – Поход
- Николай Заболоцкий – Последняя любовь
- Николай Заболоцкий – Портрет
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.