A Simile
A Simile
Original Text
Matthew Prior, Poems on several occasions (London: for J. Burrough and J. Baker, 1707).
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,
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. Back to Line
Publication Start Year
1707
RPO poem Editors
N. J. Endicott
RPO Edition
2RP.1.525; RPO 1996-2000.
Form