The Complete Poetical Works of Samuel Taylor Coleridge including Poems and Versions of Poems now Published for the First Time: Edited with Textual and Bibliographical Notes by Ernest Hartley Coleridge |
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 | The Complete Poetical Works of Samuel Taylor Coleridge |  |
LINES TO A COMIC AUTHOR, ON AN ABUSIVE REVIEW
What though the chilly wide-mouth'd quacking chorusFrom the rank swamps of murk Review-land croak:
So was it, neighbour, in the times before us,
When Momus, throwing on his Attic cloak,
Romp'd with the Graces; and each tickled Muse
(That Turk, Dan Phœbus, whom bards call divine,
Was married to—at least, he kept—all nine)
Fled, but still with reverted faces ran;
Yet, somewhat the broad freedoms to excuse,
They had allured the audacious Greek to use,
Swore they mistook him for their own good man.
This Momus—Aristophanes on earth
Men call'd him—maugre all his wit and worth,
477
Or I, friend, hope to 'scape the skulking crew?
No! laugh, and say aloud, in tones of glee,
‘I hate the quacking tribe, and they hate me!’
?1825.
| The Complete Poetical Works of Samuel Taylor Coleridge | |