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:
- Олег Григорьев – Приехала жена из Сочи
- The Aquittal Of Phryne poem – Alfred Austin
- I Chide Not At The Seasons poem – Alfred Austin
- Оливер Голдсмит – Пыл упований людям дан
- On Mrs. Montague’s Feather Hangings by William Cowper
- Be With Those Who Help Your Being by Jalal ad-Din Muhammad Rumi
- Shimmering by Satish Verma
- Владимир Высоцкий – Нараспашку, при любой погоде
- The Meäd In June by William Barnes
- Владимир Соловьев – Знамение
- Sonnet CVII: Not Mine Own Fears, Nor the Prophetic Soul by William Shakespeare
- Жан де Лафонтен – Дафнис и Алцимадура
- An Inion poem – by Ambrose Bierce poems | Poems and Poetry
- A Song On A Sigh by William Strode
- The house where I was born (03) by Yves Bonnefoy
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
- Владимир Корнилов – Чистый лист
- Владимир Корнилов – Черный день
- Владимир Корнилов – Боль
- Владимир Корнилов – Белые слоны
- Владимир Корнилов – Беатриче
- Владимир Корнилов – АЯМ
- Владимир Корнилов – Арена
- Владимир Корнилов – Анафемский сон
- Владимир Корнилов – 26 апреля
- Владимир Лифшиц – Вступление
- Владимир Лифшиц – Сверчок
- Владимир Лифшиц – Грустная шутка
- Владимир Лифшиц – Баллада о черством куске
- Владимир Ладыженский – Христос Воскрес, скворцы поют
- Владимир Костров – Закат приморский умирает
- Владимир Костров – Я стою, как дерево в лесу
- Владимир Костров – Выходец из волости лесистой
- Владимир Костров – Вот женщина с седыми волосами
- Владимир Костров – Вот избушка
- Владимир Костров – Видение на озере
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.