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.

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External links

Bat’s Poetry Page – more poetry by Fledermaus

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Batty Writing – the bat’s idle chatter, thoughts, ideas and observations, all original, all fresh

Poems in English 

• Sonnet 133: Beshrew that heart that makes my heart to groan by William Shakespeare by William Shakespeare
• Sonnet 132: Thine eyes I love, and they, as pitying me by William Shakespeare by William Shakespeare
• Sonnet 131: Thou art as tyrannous, so as thou art by William Shakespeare by William Shakespeare
• Sonnet 130: My mistress’ eyes are nothing like the sun by William Shakespeare by William Shakespeare
• Sonnet 12: When I do count the clock that tells the time by William Shakespeare by William Shakespeare
• Sonnet 129: Th’ expense of spirit in a waste of shame by William Shakespeare by William Shakespeare
• The Eolian Harp by Samuel Taylor Coleridge by Fledermaus
• Sonnet 32: If thou survive my well-contented day by William Shakespeare by William Shakespeare
• Sonnet 31: Thy bosom is endearèd with all hearts by William Shakespeare by William Shakespeare
• Sonnet 30: When to the sessions of sweet silent thought by William Shakespeare by William Shakespeare
• Sonnet 2: When forty winters shall besiege thy brow by William Shakespeare by William Shakespeare
• Sonnet 29: When in disgrace with Fortune and men’s eyes by William Shakespeare by William Shakespeare
• Sonnet 28: How can I then return in happy plight by William Shakespeare by William Shakespeare
• Sonnet 27: Weary with toil, I haste me to my bed by William Shakespeare by William Shakespeare
• Sonnet 26: Lord of my love, to whom in vassalage by William Shakespeare by William Shakespeare
• Sonnet 25: Let those who are in favour with their stars by William Shakespeare by William Shakespeare
• Sonnet 24: Mine eye hath played the painter and hath stelled by William Shakespeare by William Shakespeare
• Sonnet 23: As an unperfect actor on the stage by William Shakespeare by William Shakespeare
• Sonnet 22: My glass shall not persuade me I am old by William Shakespeare by William Shakespeare
• Sonnet 21: So is it not with me as with that muse by William Shakespeare by William Shakespeare

More external links (open in a new tab):

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Doska or the Board – write anything

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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.

 

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