by Homer
Sometimes froward, and then frowning,
Sometimes sickish, and then swowning,
Every fit with change still crowning. 15
Purely jealous I would have her;
Then only constant when I crave her,
’Tis a virtue should not save her.
Thus, nor her delicates would cloy me,
Neither her peevishness annoy me. 20
List of Poems in Alphabetical Order
List of Poets in Alphabetical Order
To the Memory of My Beloved the Author, Mr. William Shakespeare and What He Hath Left Us
Prefixed to the First Folio Edition of Shakespeare’s Plays
Ben Jonson (1573–1637)
TO draw no envy, Shakespeare, on thy name,
Am I thus ample to thy book and fame;
While I confess thy writings to be such
As neither man nor Muse can praise too much.
’Tis true, and all men’s suffrage. But these ways 5
Were not the paths I meant unto thy praise;
For seeliest Ignorance on these may light,
Which, when it sounds at best, but echoes right;
Or blind Affection, which doth ne’er advance
The truth, but gropes and urgeth all by chance; 10
Or crafty Malice might pretend this praise,
And think to ruin where it seem’d to raise.
These are as some infamous bawd or whore
Should praise a matron. What could hurt her more?
But thou art proof against them, and, indeed, 15
Above the ill-fortune of them, or the need.
I, therefore, will begin. Soul of the age!
The applause, delight, the wonder of our stage,
My Shakespeare, rise! I will not lodge thee by
Chaucer, or Spenser, or bid Beaumont lie 20
A little further, to make thee a room:
Thou art a monument without a tomb,
And art alive still, while thy book doth live,
And we have wits to read, and praise to give.
That I not mix thee so, my brain excuses; 25
I mean, with great but disproportion’d Muses.
For, if I thought my judgment were of years,
I should commit thee, surely, with thy peers.
And tell how far thou didst our Lyly outshine,
Or sporting Kyd, or Marlowe’s mighty line. 30
And though thou hadst small Latin and less Greek,
From thence, to honour thee, I would not seek
For names; but call forth thund’ring Aeschylus,
Euripides, and Sophocles to us,
Paccuvius, Accius, him of Cordova dead 35
To life again, to hear thy buskin tread
And shake a stage; or when thy socks were on,
Leave thee alone, for the comparison
Of all that insolent Greece or haughty Rome
Sent forth; or since did from their ashes come. 40
Triumph, my Britain! Thou hast one to show
To whom all scenes of Europe homage owe.
He was not of an age, but for all time!
And all the Muses still were in their prime,
When, like Apollo, he came forth to warm 45
Our ears, or, like a Mercury, to charm.
Nature herself was proud of his designs,
And joy’d to wear the dressing of his lines,
Which were so richly spun, and woven so fit
As, since, she will vouchsafe no other wit. 50
The merry Greek, tart Aristophanes,
Neat Terence, witty Plautus, now not please;
But antiquated and deserted lie,
As they were not of Nature’s family.
Yet must I not give Nature all! Thy art, 55
My gentle Shakespeare, must enjoy a part.
For though the Poet’s matter Nature be
His art doth give the fashion. And that he
Who casts to write a living line, must sweat
(Such as thine are), and strike the second heat 60
Upon the Muses’ anvil, turn the same
(And himself with it), that he thinks to frame;
Or for the laurel he may gain a scorn!
For a good Poet’s made as well as born;
And such wert thou! Look how the father’s face 65
Lives in his issue; even so, the race
Of Shakespeare’s mind and manners brightly shines
In his well-turnèd and true-filèd lines;
In each of which he seems to shake a lance
As brandish’d at the eyes of Ignorance. 70
Sweet Swan of Avon! what a sight it were
To see thee in our water yet appear,
And make those flights upon the banks of Thames
That so did take Eliza, and our James!
But stay, I see thee in the hemisphere 75
Advanc’d, and made a constellation there!
Shine forth, thou star of poets, and with rage
Or influence, chide, or cheer the drooping stage;
Which since thy flight from hence hath mourn’d like night,
And despairs day, but for thy volume’s light. 80
List of Poems in Alphabetical Order
List of Poets in Alphabetical Order
John Donne
List of Poems in Alphabetical Order
List of Poets in Alphabetical Order
The Flea
John Donne (1573–1631)
Mark but this flea, and mark in this,
How little that which thou deniest me is;
It sucked me first, and now sucks thee,
And in this flea our two bloods mingled be;
Thou know’st that this cannot be said
A sin, nor shame, nor loss of maidenhead,
Yet this enjoys before it woo,
And pampered swells with one blood made of two,
And this, alas, is more than we would do.
Oh stay, three lives in one flea spare,
Where we almost, nay more than married are.
This flea is you and I, and this
Our mariage bed, and marriage temple is;
Though parents grudge, and you, w’are met,
And cloistered in these living walls of jet.
Though use make you apt to kill me,
Let not to that, self-murder added be,
And sacrilege, three sins in killing three.
Cruel and sudden, hast thou since
Purpled thy nail, in blood of innocence?
Wherein could this flea guilty be,
Except in that drop which it sucked from thee?
Yet thou triumph’st, and say’st that thou
Find’st not thy self, nor me the weaker now;
’Tis true; then learn how false, fears be:
Just so much honor, when thou yield’st to me,
Will waste, as this flea’s death took life from thee.
List of Poems in Alphabetical Order
List of Poets in Alphabetical Order
The Funeral
John Donne (1573–1631)
WHOEVER comes to shroud me, do not harm
Nor question much
That subtle wreath of hair about mine arm;
The mystery, the sign you must not touch,
For ’tis my outward soul, 5
Viceroy to that which, unto heav’n being gone,
Will leave this to control
And keep these limbs, her provinces, from dissolution.
For if the sinewy thread my brain lets fall
Through every part 10
Can tie those parts, and make me one of all;
Those hairs, which upward grew, and strength and art
Have from a better brain,
Can better do ‘t: except she meant that I
By this should know my pain, 15
As prisoners then are manacled, when they’re condemn’d to die.
Whate’er she meant by’t, bury it with m
e,
For since I am
Love’s martyr, it might breed idolatry
If into other hands these reliques came. 20
As ’twas humility
T’ afford to it all that a soul can do,
So ’tis some bravery
That, since you would have none of me, I bury some of you.
List of Poems in Alphabetical Order
List of Poets in Alphabetical Order
A Hymn to God the Father
John Donne (1573–1631)
WILT Thou forgive that sin where I begun,
Which was my sin, though it were done before?
Wilt Thou forgive that sin through which I run,
And do run still, though still I do deplore?
When Thou hast done, Thou hast not done; 5
For I have more.
Wilt Thou forgive that sin which I have won
Others to sin, and made my sins their door?
Wilt Thou forgive that sin which I did shun
A year or two, but wallow’d in a score? 10
When Thou hast done, Thou hast not done;
For I have more.
I have a sin of fear, that when I’ve spun
My last thread, I shall perish on the shore;
But swear by Thyself that at my death Thy Son 15
Shall shine as He shines now and heretofore:
And having done that, Thou hast done;
I fear no more.
List of Poems in Alphabetical Order
List of Poets in Alphabetical Order
Valediction, Forbidding Mourning
John Donne (1573–1631)
AS virtuous men pass mildly away,
And whisper to their souls to go;
While some of their sad friends do say,
Now his breath goes, and some say, No;
So let us melt, and make no noise, 5
No tear-floods, nor sigh-tempests move;
‘Twere profanation of our joys
To tell the laity our love.
Moving of th’ earth brings harms and fears
Men reckon what it did and meant; 10
But trepidations of the spheres,
Though greater far, are innocent.
Dull sublunary lovers’ love,
Whose soul is sense, cannot admit
Absence; for that it doth remove 15
Those things which elemented it.
But we, by a love so far refined,
That ourselves know not what it is,
Inter-assurèd of the mind,
Careless, eyes, lips and hands to miss, 20
— Our two souls therefore, which are one,
Though I must go, endure not yet
A breach, but an expansion,
Like gold to airy thinness beat.
If they be two, they are two so 25
As stiff twin compasses are two;
Thy soul, the fixt foot, makes no show
To move, but doth if th’ other do.
And though it in the centre sit,
Yet when the other far doth roam, 30
It leans and hearkens after it,
And grows erect as that comes home.
Such wilt thou be to me, who must,
Like th’ other foot, obliquely run;
Thy firmness makes my circles just, 35
And makes me end where I begun.
List of Poems in Alphabetical Order
List of Poets in Alphabetical Order
Death
John Donne (1573–1631)
DEATH, be not proud, though some have callèd thee
Mighty and dreadful, for thou art not so:
For those whom thou think’st thou dost overthrow
Die not, poor Death; nor yet canst thou kill me.
From Rest and Sleep, which but thy picture be, 5
Much pleasure, then from thee much more must flow;
And soonest our best men with thee do go —
Rest of their bones and souls’ delivery!
Thou’rt slave to fate, chance, kings, and desperate men,
And dost with poison, war, and sickness dwell; 10
And poppy or charms can make us sleep as well
And better than thy stroke. Why swell’st thou then?
One short sleep past, we wake eternally,
And Death shall be no more: Death, thou shalt die!
List of Poems in Alphabetical Order
List of Poets in Alphabetical Order
The Dream
John Donne (1573–1631)
DEAR love, for nothing less than thee
Would I have broke this happy dream;
It was a theme
For reason, much too strong for fantasy.
Therefore thou waked’st me wisely; yet 5
My dream thou brak’st not, but continued’st it:
Thou art so true that thoughts of thee suffice
To make dreams truths and fables histories.
Enter these arms, for since thou thought’st it best
Not to dream all my dream, let’s act the rest. 10
As lightning, or a taper’s light,
Thine eyes, and not thy noise, waked me;
Yet I thought thee —
For thou lov’st truth — an angel at first sight;
But when I saw thou saw’st my heart, 15
And knew’st my thoughts beyond an angel’s art,
When thou knew’st what I dreamt, when thou knew’st when
Excess of joy would wake me, and cam’st then,
I must confess it could not choose but be
Profane to think thee anything but thee. 20
Coming and staying show’d thee thee;
But rising makes me doubt that now
Thou art not thou.
That Love is weak where Fear’s as strong as he;
’Tis not all spirit pure and brave, 25
If mixture it of Fear, Shame, Honour have.
Perchance, as torches, which must ready be,
Men light and put out, so thou dealst with me.
Thou cam’st to kindle, goest to come: then I
Will dream that hope again, but else would die. 30
List of Poems in Alphabetical Order
List of Poets in Alphabetical Order
Song
John Donne (1573–1631)
GO and catch a falling star,
Get with child a mandrake root,
Tell me where all past hours are,
Or who cleft the Devil’s foot;
Teach me to hear mermaids singing, 5
Or to keep off envy’s stinging,
Or find
What wind
Serves to advance an honest mind.
If thou be’st born to strange sights, 10
Things invisible go see,
Ride ten thousand days and nights,
Till age snow white hairs on thee.
Thou at thy return wilt tell me
All strange wonders that befell thee, 15
And swear,
No where
Lives a woman true and fair.
If thou find’st one, let me know,
Such a pilgrimage were sweet; 20
Yet do not, I would not go,
Though at next door we should meet.
Though she were true when you met her,
And last till you write your letter,
Yet she 25
Will be
False, ere I come, to two or three.
List of Poems in Alphabetical Order
List of Poets in Alphabetical Order
Sweetest Love, I do not Go
John Donne (1573–1631)
SWEETEST love, I do not go
For weariness of thee,
Nor in hope the world can show
A fitter love for me;
But since that I 5
Must die at last, ’tis best
Thus to use myself in jest,
By feignèd death to die.
Ye
sternight the sun went hence,
And yet is here to-day; 10
He hath no desire nor sense,
Nor half so short a way.
Then fear not me,
But believe that I shall make
Hastier journeys, since I take 15
More wings and spurs than he.
O how feeble is man’s power,
That, if good fortune fall,
Cannot add another hour,
Nor a lost hour recall. 20
But come bad chance,
And we join to it our strength,
And we teach it art and length,
Itself o’er us t’ advance.
When thou sigh’st, thou sigh’st no wind, 25
But sigh’st my soul away;
When thou weep’st, unkindly kind,
My life’s blood doth decay.
It cannot be
That thou lov’st me as thou say’st, 30
If in thine my life thou waste,
That art the best of me.
Let not thy divining heart
Forethink me any ill.
Destiny may take thy part 35
And may thy fears fulfil;
But think that we
Are but turned aside to sleep:
They who one another keep
Alive, ne’er parted be. 40
List of Poems in Alphabetical Order
List of Poets in Alphabetical Order
Lover’s Infiniteness
John Donne (1573–1631)
IF yet I have not all thy love,
Dear, I shall never have it all;
I cannot breathe one other sigh to move,
Nor can entreat one other tear to fall;
And all my treasure, which should purchase thee, 5
Sighs, tears, and oaths, and letters, I have spent;