For Philip Ridgate Esq.

Thomas Parnell 1679 (Dublin) – 1718



To friend with fingers quick & limber,
I send this piece of tunefull timber:
that, as 'tis said in Orpheus story,
He may teach trees to dance a Bory;
Or else in modern Phrase more knavish,
He may the heart of broomstick ravish.
The man whose parts in Taverns shine,
Doates on the merry pipe of wine;
& he who late has got his pate full,
perceives the water pipe is gratefull;
But these are pipes that still are mute,
there is some musick in a flute.
Which since I as a present send,
the presents worth to recommend,
Ile in soft words its praises warble,
translated from Italian marble.
'When ere we hear its strains & closes,
'Enchanted reason sweetly dozes,
'on laps of nymphs, & beds of roses;
'the Soul that all its charms admires,
'for lodgings in the ear enquires;
'Gay pictures do the Fancy store;
'& passions felt but heard no more.
All that my author says is true,
When th' instrument is playd by you.
& least you think I came by this ill,
Splut her was preed her from a whistle.

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Submitted on May 13, 2011

Modified on March 05, 2023

56 sec read
49

Quick analysis:

Scheme AABACCDDEEFFGGHHIIIJIKKLLMH
Closest metre Iambic tetrameter
Characters 969
Words 189
Stanzas 1
Stanza Lengths 27

Thomas Parnell

Thomas Parnell was an Anglo-Irish poet and clergyman who was a friend of both Alexander Pope and Jonathan Swift. He was the son of Thomas Parnell of Maryborough, Queen's County now Port Laoise, County Laoise}, a prosperous landowner who had been a loyal supporter of Cromwell during the English Civil War and moved to Ireland after the restoration of the monarchy. Thomas was educated at Trinity College, Dublin and collated archdeacon of Clogher in 1705. He however spent much of his time in London, where he participated with Pope, Swift and others in the Scriblerus Club, contributing to The Spectator and aiding Pope in his translation of The Iliad. He was also one of the so-called "Graveyard poets": his 'A Night-Piece on Death,' widely considered the first "Graveyard School" poem, was published posthumously in Poems on Several Occasions, collected and edited by Alexander Pope and is thought by some scholars to have been published in December of 1721 (although dated in 1722 on its title page, the year accepted by The Concise Oxford Chronology of English Literature; see 1721 in poetry, 1722 in poetry). It is said of his poetry 'it was in keeping with his character, easy and pleasing, ennunciating the common places with felicity and grace. more…

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