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The poems (1969)

Collins, William (1721-1759)

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[section]
 1. 
1 Sonnet
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2 Persian Eclogues
 1. 
ECLOGUE THE FIRST
 2. 
ECLOGUE THE SECOND
 3. 
ECLOGUE THE THIRD
 4. 
ECLOGUE THE FOURTH
 3. 
3 An Epistle:
 4. 
4 A Song from Shakespeare's Cymbeline
 5. 
5 Song.
 6. 
6 Written on a Paper which Contained a Piece of Bride Cake given to the Author by a Lady
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Odes on Several Descriptive and Allegoric Subjects
 7. 
7 Ode to Pity
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8 Ode to Fear
  
[section]
  
EPODE
  
ANTISTROPHE
 9. 
9 Ode to Simplicity
 10. 
10 Ode on the Poetical Character
 11. 
11 Ode, Written in the Beginning of the Year 1746
 12. 
12 Ode to Mercy
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13 Ode to Liberty
  
STROPHE
  
EPODE 2
  
ANTISTROPHE
  
SECOND EPODE
 14. 
14 Ode, to a Lady on the Death of Colonel Ross in the Action of Fontenoy
 15. 
15 Ode to Evening
 16. 
16 Ode to Peace
 17. 
17 The Manners.
 18. 
18 The Passions.
 19. 
19 Ode Occasioned by the Death of Mr Thomson
 20. 
20 An Ode on the Popular Superstitions of the Highlands of Scotland, Considered as the Subject of Poetry
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DRAFTS AND FRAGMENTS
 21. 
21 [Lines on Restoration Drama]
 22. 
22 [Lines of Composite Authorship]
 23. 
23 [Lines Addressed to James Harris]
 24. 
24 [Lines Addressed to Jacob Tonson]
 25. 
25 [Lines Addressed to a Fastidious Critic]
 26. 
26 [Lines Addressed to a Friend about to Visit Italy]
 27. 
27 [Stanzas on a Female Painter]
 28. 
28 ‘Ye genii who, in secret state’
 29. 
29 To Simplicity
 30. 
30 ‘No longer ask me, gentle friends’
 31. 
31 [Lines on the Music of the Grecian Theatre]
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LOST AND DOUBTFUL POEMS
 36. 
36 On the Use and Abuse of Poetry
 37. 
37 The Bell of Arragon
 38. 
38 On a Quack Doctor

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561

36 On the Use and Abuse of Poetry

[_]

The attribution of this poem is questionable.

562

ANTISTROPHE. II.

Such was wise Orpheus' moral song,
The lonely cliffs and caves among;
From hollow oak, or mountain-den,
He drew the naked, gazing men,
Or where in turf-built sheds, or rushy bowers,
They shiver'd in cold wintry showers,
Or sunk in heapy snows;
Then sudden, while his melting music stole
With powerful magic o'er each softening soul,
Society, and law, and sacred order rose.

EPODE II.

Father of peace and arts! he first the city built;
No more the neighbour's blood was by his neighbour spilt;
He taught to till, and separate the lands;
He fix'd the roving youths in Hymen's myrtle bands;
Whence dear domestic life began,
And all the charities that soften'd man:
The babes that in their father's faces smil'd,
With lisping blandishments their rage beguil'd,
And tender thoughts inspir'd!—&c.
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