Poetry Explorer- Classic Contemporary Poetry, GONDIBERT; AN HEROIC POEM: BOOK 3, CANTO 7; TO MR. COTTON, by WILLIAM DAVENANT


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GONDIBERT; AN HEROIC POEM: BOOK 3, CANTO 7; TO MR. COTTON, by             Poem Explanation     Poet Analysis     Poet's Biography
First Line: Unlucky fire, which though from heaven deriv'd
Last Line: As nature seem'd afraid of her disguise.
Alternate Author Name(s): D'avenant, William
Subject(s): Cotton, Charles, The Elder (d. 1658)


I

UNLUCKY fire, which though from Heaven deriv'd,
Is brought too late, like cordials to the dead,
When all are of their sovereign sense depriv'd,
And honour, which my rage should warm, is fled.

II

Dead to heroic song this Isle appears,
The ancient music of victorious verse,
They taste no more than he his dirges hears,
Whose useless mourners sing about his hearse.

III

Yet shall this sacred lamp in prison burn,
And through the darksome ages hence invade
The wondering world, like that in Tully's urn
Which, though by Time conceal'd, was not decay'd.

IV

And Cbarles, in that more civil century,
When this shall wholly fill the voice of Fame,
The busy Antiquaries then will try
To find amongst their Monarch's coin, thy name.

V

Much they will bless thy virtue, by whose fire
I'll keep my laurel warm, which else would fade,
And, thus enclos'd, think me of Nature's choir
Which still sings sweetest in the shade.

VI

To Fame, who rules the world, I lead thee now,
Whose solid power the thoughtful understand,
Whom, though too late, weak Princes to her bow,
The people serve, and poets can command.

VII

And Fame, the only judge of Empire past,
Shall to Verona lead thy fancy's eyes,
Where night so black a robe on Nature cast,
As Nature seem'd afraid of her disguise.





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