The Poets Progress（1 / 2）

the poet's progress

a poem in embryo

thou, nature, partial nature, i arraign;

of thy caprice maternal i complain.

the peopled fold thy kindly care have found,

the horned bull, tremendous, spurns the ground;

the lordly lion has enough and more,

the forest trembles at his very roar;

thou giv'st the ass his hide, the snail his shell,

the puny wasp, victorious, guards his cell.

thy minions, kings defend, controul devour,

in all th' omnipotence of rule and power:

foxes and statesmen subtle wiles ensure;

the cit and polecat stink, and are secure:

toads with their poison, doctors with their drug,

the priest and hedgehog, in their robes, are snug:

e'en silly women have defensive arts,

their eyes, their tongues—and nameless other parts.

but o thou cruel stepmother and hard,

to thy poor fenceless, naked child, the bard!

a thing unteachable in worldly skill,

and half an idiot too, more helpless still:

no heels to bear him from the op'ning dun,

no claws to dig, his hated sight to shun:

no horns, but those by luckless hymen worn,

and those, alas! not amalthea's horn:

no nerves olfact'ry, true to mammon's foot,

or grunting, grub sagacious, evil's root:

the silly sheep that wanders wild astray,

is not more friendless, is not more a prey;

vampyre—booksellers drain him to the heart,

and viper—critics cureless venom dart.

critics! appll'd i venture on the name,

those cut-throat bandits in the paths of fame,

bloody dissectors, worse than ten monroes,

he hacks to teach, they mangle to expose:

by blockhead's daring into madness stung,

his heart by wanton, causeless malice wrung,

his well-won ways—than life itself more dear—

by miscreants torn who ne'er one sprig must wear;

foil'd, bleeding, tortur'd in th' unequal strife,

the hapless poet flounces on through life,

till, fled each hope that once his bosom fired,

and fled each muse that glorious once inspir'd,

low-sunk in squalid, unprotected age,

dead even resentment for his injur'd page,

he heeds no more the ruthless critics' rage.