John Henry Dryden Poems on Love (15 Poems)

Cymon And Iphigenia. From Boccace (John Henry Dryden Poems)

Old as I am, for lady’s love unfit,The power of beauty I remember yet,Which once inflamed my soul, and still inspires my wit.If love be folly, the severe divine;Has felt that folly, though he censures mine;Pollutes the pleasures of a … Continue reading →

The Hind And The Panther, A Poem In Three Parts : Part I. (John Henry Dryden Poems)

A milk-white Hind, immortal and unchanged,Fed on the lawns, and in the forest ranged;Without unspotted, innocent within,She feared no danger, for she knew no sin.Yet had she oft been chased with horns and hounds,And Scythian shafts; and many winged woundsAimed … Continue reading →

The Wife Of Bath Her Tale (John Henry Dryden Poems)

In days of old, when Arthur filled the throne,Whose acts and fame to foreign lands were blown,The king of elves, and little fairy queen,Gambolled on heaths, and danced on every green;And where the jolly troop had led the round,The grass … Continue reading →

Eleonora : A Panegyrical (John Henry Dryden Poems)

Dedicated to the Memory of the Late Countess of Abingdon. As when some great and gracious monarch dies,Soft whispers first and mournful riseAmong the sad attendants; then the soundSoon gathers voice and spreads the news around,Through town and country, till … Continue reading →

To the Lord Chancellor Hyde. Presented on New-Year’s Day, 1662 (John Henry Dryden Poems)

My Lord,While flattering crowds officiously appearTo give themselves, not you, an happy year,And by the greatness of their presents proveHow much they hope, but not how well they love,-The muses, who your early courtship boast,Though now your flames are with … Continue reading →

The Character Of A Good Parson. Imitated From Chaucer, And Enlarged (John Henry Dryden Poems)

A parish-priest was of the pilgrim-train;An awful, reverend, and religious man.His eyes diffused a venerable grace,And charity itself was in his face.Rich was his soul, though his attire was poor,(As God had clothed his own ambassador);For such, on earth, his … Continue reading →

A Song for St. Cecilia’s Day (John Henry Dryden Poems)

FROM harmony, from heavenly harmony,This universal frame began:When nature underneath a heapOf jarring atoms lay,And could not heave her head,The tuneful voice was heard from high,‘Arise, ye more than dead!’Then cold, and hot, and moist, and dry,In order to their … Continue reading →

Satire On The Dutch (John Henry Dryden Poems)

As needy gallants, in the scrivener’s hands,Court the rich knaves that gripe their mortgaged lands;The first fat buck of all the season’s sent,And keeper takes no fee in compliment;The dotage of some Englishmen is such,To fawn on those who ruin … Continue reading →

Prologue to the Princess of Cleves (John Henry Dryden Poems)

Ladies! (I hope there’s none behind to hear)I long to whisper something in your ear:A secret, which does much my mind perplex,-There’s treason in the play against our sex.A man that’s false to love, that vows and cheats,And kisses every … Continue reading →

Epilogue to Henry II. (John Henry Dryden Poems)

Thus you the sad catastrophe have seen,Occasioned by a mistress and a queen.Queen Eleanor the proud was French, they say;But English manufacture got the day.Jane Clifford was her name, as books aver;Fair Rosamond was but her nom de guerre.Now tell … Continue reading →