Matthew Prior (1664-1721)
A Simile
1Dear Thomas, didst thou never pop
2Thy head into a tin-man's shop?
3There, Thomas, didst thou never see
4('Tis but by way of simile)
5A squirrel spend his little rage
6In jumping round a rolling cage?
7The cage, as either side turn'd up,
8Striking a ring of bells a-top?--
9 Mov'd in the orb, pleas'd with the chimes,
10The foolish creature thinks he climbs:
11But here or there, turn wood or wire,
12He never gets two inches higher.
13 So fares it with those merry blades,
14That frisk it under Pindus' shades.
15In noble songs, and lofty odes,
16They tread on stars, and talk with gods;
17Still dancing in an airy round,
18Still pleas'd with their own verses' sound;
19Brought back, how fast soe'er they go,
20Always aspiring, always low.
Notes
14] Pindus: a mountain chain in Thessaly, sacred to the Muses.
Online text copyright © 2009, Ian Lancashire (the Department of English) and the University of Toronto.
Published by the Web Development Group, Information Technology Services, University of Toronto Libraries.
Original text: Matthew Prior, Poems on several occasions (London: for J. Burrough and J. Baker, 1707).
First publication date:
1707
RPO poem editor: N. J. Endicott
RP edition: 2RP.1.525; RPO 1996-2000.
Recent editing: 2:2002/4/11
Form: couplets
Other poems by Matthew Prior
