Classic and Contemporary Poetry
NEW ODE TO A GRECIAN URN, by ALFRED DENNIS GODLEY Poet's Biography First Line: Alas! How sad that simple truth Last Line: I read the tale of how lhkqion apwlesen! Alternate Author Name(s): Godley, A. D. Subject(s): Elgin Marbles; Greece; Keats, John (1795-1821); Poetry & Poets; Greeks | ||||||||
ALAS! how sad that simple truth Once sung to Grecian men, That legend passion-fraught -- Lhkqion apwlesen! For had the foot of casual crime Passed harmless by, and not Doomed to an end before its time That late lamented pot, What ample views, what prospects high Before my fancy start! Methinks I see it typify Some phase of ancient art: It might, exposed to public view, Have proved perchance to us How very, very far from true Is old Herodotus, Or with the centuries' increase (A beacon 'mid the mists That wrap the chronicles of Greece For archaeologists) Have thrown a flood of radiant light On manners, customs, dates, And settled for a decade quite What view shall pay in Greats. I see Extensionists in scores Before that relic sit, Imbibing Greek through all their pores By contemplating it: For 'tis not verse, and 'tis not prose, But earthenware alone It is that ultimately shows What men have thought and done! And so, though still in Hellas lies Full many a pot and pan Wherein the souls who books despise May read the lot of man, Yet will I weep for simple truth On all occasions when I read the tale of how Lhkqion apwlesen! | Discover our Poem Explanations and Poet Analyses!Other Poems of Interest...A FLOWER NO MORE THAN ITSELF by LINDA GREGG ALMA IN ALL SEASONS by LINDA GREGG ALMA IN THE DARK by LINDA GREGG ALMA TO HER SISTER by LINDA GREGG ALONE WITH THE GODDESS by LINDA GREGG APHRODITE AND THE NATURE OF ART by LINDA GREGG AS BEING IS ETERNAL by LINDA GREGG A DIALOGUE ON ETHICS by ALFRED DENNIS GODLEY A HANDBOOK TO HOMER by ALFRED DENNIS GODLEY A NEW DIALOGUE OF THE DEAD; ODYSSEUS AND ARISTOTLE by ALFRED DENNIS GODLEY |
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