William Cowper on Poets
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“And spare the poet for his subject's sake.”
“There is a pleasure in poetic pains, Which only poets know.”
“Greece, sound thy Homer's, Rome thy Virgil's name, But England's Milton equals both in fame.”
“They best can judge a poet's worth, Who oft themselves have known The pangs of a poetic birth By labours of their own.”
“Ages elapsed ere Homer's lamp appeared, And ages ere the Mantuan Swan was heard; To carry nature lengths unknown before, To give a Milton birth, asked ages more.”