Underneath this sable hearse Lies the subject of all verse:... Sidney's sister, Pembroke's mother; Death ere thou has slain another, Fair, and learned, and good as she, Time shall throw a dart at thee.LESSATTRIBUTION DETAIL »
Know Celia, (since thou art so proud), 'Twas I that gave thee thy renowne:... Thou hadst, in the forgotten crowd Of common beauties, liv'd unknowne, Had not my verse exhal'd thy name, And with it, ympt the wings of fame.LESSATTRIBUTION DETAIL »
All ye poets of the age, All ye witlings of the stage,... Learn your jingles to reform, Crop your numbers to conform. Let your little verses flow Gently, sweetly, row by row; Let the verse the subject fit, Little subject, little wit. Namby-Pamby is your guide, Albion's joy, Hibernia's pride.LESSATTRIBUTION DETAIL »
Thy spotless Muse, like Mary, did contain The boundless Godhead; she did well disdain... That her eternal Verse employ'd should be On a less subject than Eternitie;LESSATTRIBUTION DETAIL »
No far-fetched sigh shall ever wound my breast, Love from mine eye a tear shall never wring,... Nor in Ah me's my whining sonnets dressed, A libertine, fantastically I sing. My verse is the true image of my mind, Ever in motion, still desiring change;LESSATTRIBUTION DETAIL »
Thus have I made my own opinions clear; Yet neither praise expect, nor censure fear:... And this unpolished, rugged verse I chose, As fittest for discourse and nearest prose;LESSATTRIBUTION DETAIL »
Who says that fictions only and false hair Become a verse? Is there in truth no beauty?... Is all good structure in a winding stair? May no lines pass, except they do their duty Not to a true, but painted chair?LESSATTRIBUTION DETAIL »
Where we such clusters had, As made us nobly wild, not mad;... And yet each verse of thine Outdid the meat, outdid the frolic wine.LESSATTRIBUTION DETAIL »