To Sir William Davenant

UPON HIS TWO FIRST BOOKS OF GONDIBERT

FINISHED BEFORE HIS VOYAGE TO AMERICA.

METHINKS heroick poesy till now,

Like some fantastick fairy-land did show;

Gods, devils, nymphs, witches and giants’ race,

And all but man, in man’s chief work had place.

Thou, like some worthy knight with sacred arms,

Dost drive the monsters thence, and end the charms:

Instead of those dost men and manners plant,

The things which that rich soil did chiefly want.

Yet ev’n thy Mortals do their Gods excel,

Taught by thy Muse to fight and love so well.

By fatal hands whilst present empires fall,

Thine from the grave past monarchies recall;

So much more thanks from human-kind does merit

The Poet’s fury than the zealot’s spirit.

And from the grave thou mak’st this empire rise,

Not like some dreadful ghost t’ affright our eyes,

But with more lustre and triumphant state,

Than when it crown’d at proud Verona sate.

So will our God rebuild man’s perished frame,

And raise him up much better, yet the same:

So God-like poets do past things rehearse,

Not change, but heighten, Nature by their verse.

With shame, methinks, great Italy must see

Her conquerors rais’d to life again by thee:

Rais’d by such pow’erful verse, that ancient Rome

May blush no less to see her wit o’ercome.

Some men their fancies like their faith, derive,

And think all ill but that which Rome does give;

The marks of Old and Catholick would find;

To the same chair would truth and fiction bind.

Thou in those beaten paths disdain’st to tread,

And scorn’st to live by robbing of the dead.

Since time does all things change, thou think’st not fit

This latter age should see all new but wit;

Thy fancy, like a flame, its way does make,

And leave bright tracks for following pens to take.

Sure ‘t was this noble boldness of the Muse

Did thy desire to seek new worlds infuse;

And ne’er did Heaven so much a voyage bless,

If thou canst plant but there with like success.

Poetry Monster – Home

A few random poems:

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 

• Sonnet 115: Those lines that I before have writ do lie by William Shakespeare by William Shakespeare
• Sonnet 114: Or whether doth my mind, being crowned with you by William Shakespeare by William Shakespeare
• Sonnet 113: Since I left you, mine eye is in my mind by William Shakespeare by William Shakespeare
• Sonnet 112: Your love and pity doth th’ impression fill by William Shakespeare by William Shakespeare
• Sonnet 111: O, for my sake do you with Fortune chide by William Shakespeare by William Shakespeare
• Sonnet 110: Alas, ’tis true, I have gone here and there by William Shakespeare by William Shakespeare
• Sonnet 10: For shame, deny that thou bear’st love to any by William Shakespeare by William Shakespeare
• Sonnet 109: O, never say that I was false of heart by William Shakespeare by William Shakespeare
• Sonnet 108: What’s in the brain that ink may character by William Shakespeare by William Shakespeare
• Sonnet 107: Not mine own fears, nor the prophetic soul by William Shakespeare by William Shakespeare
• Sonnet 106: When in the chronicle of wasted time by William Shakespeare by William Shakespeare
• Sonnet 105: Let not my love be called idolatry by William Shakespeare by William Shakespeare
• Sonnet 104: To me, fair friend, you never can be old by William Shakespeare by William Shakespeare
• Sonnet 103: Alack, what poverty my Muse brings forth by William Shakespeare by William Shakespeare
• Sonnet 102: My love is strengthened, though more weak in seeming by William Shakespeare by William Shakespeare
• Sonnet 101: O truant Muse, what shall be thy amends by William Shakespeare by William Shakespeare
• Sonnet 100: Where art thou, Muse, that thou forget’st so long by William Shakespeare by William Shakespeare
• Sonnet LIV by William Shakespeare by William Shakespeare
• Silvia by William Shakespeare by William Shakespeare
• Sigh No More by William Shakespeare by William Shakespeare

More external links (open in a new tab):

Russian Commerce Agency

Dealing Monster

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

Poems by Author and Category

The Poetry Repository – an online library of poems, poetry, verse and poetic works