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Classic and Contemporary Poetry
AESOP AT PLAY, by GAIUS JULIUS PHAEDRUS Poet's Biography First Line: As aesop was with boys at play Last Line: The studies which they shall renew. Subject(s): Aesop (620?-560? B.c) | |||
As AEsop was with boys at play, And had his nuts as well as they, A grave Athenian, passing by, Cast on the sage a scornful eye, As on a dotard quite bereaved: Which, when the moralist perceived, (Rather himself a wit professed Than the poor subject of a jest) Into the public way he flung A bow that he had just unstrung: "There solve, thou conjurer," he cries, "The problem, that before thee lies." The people throng; he racks his brain, Nor can the thing enjoined explain. At last he give it up -- the seer Thus then in triumph made it clear: "As the tough bow exerts its spring, A constant tension breaks the string; But if 'tis let at seasons loose, You may depend upon its use." Thus recreative sports and play Are good upon a holiday, And with more spirit they'll pursue The studies which they shall renew. | Discover our Poem Explanations and Poet Analyses!Other Poems of Interest...THE GROATSWORTH OF WIT: A CONCEITED FABLE OF THE OLD COMEDIAN AESOP by ROBERT GREENE THE LARK'S NEST; A FABLE FROM ESOP by CHARLOTTE SMITH THE DOG IN THE RIVER by GAIUS JULIUS PHAEDRUS THE FOX AND THE GRAPES by GAIUS JULIUS PHAEDRUS THE PROUD FROG by GAIUS JULIUS PHAEDRUS TIE-DOWN OF A BONSAI by MARVIN BELL AUGUST FIRST by HAYDEN CARRUTH HERO AND LEANDER by CHRISTOPHER MARLOWE |
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