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Poetics

Or, a series of poems, and disquisitions on poetry. By George Dyer
Dyer, George (1755-1841)

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VOL. I.
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ODES.
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BOOK THE FIRST.
 I. 
ODE I. VISIONS.
 III. 
ODE III. ON REVISITING THE SCENES OF EARLIER LIFE.
 IV. 
ODE IV. ON THE APPROACH OF SPRING.
 V. 
ODE V. INDEPENDENCE.
 VI. 
ODE VI. TO JOHN HAMMOND, A. M. OF FENSTANTON, HUNTINGDONSHIRE.
 VII. 
ODE VII. THE RECONCILIATION.
 VIII. 
ODE VIII. INVOCATION TO MAY.
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BOOK THE SECOND.
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ODE I. THE RACE OF HEROES.
 I. 
I.
 II. 
II.
 III. 
III.
 II. 
ODE II. PEACE AND FREEDOM.
 III. 
ODE III. TO MRS. OPIE, WHEN MISS ALDERSON,
 IV. 
ODE IV. TO AN INFANT,
 VI. 
ODE VI. ON CONTEMPLATING THE WEALTH AND AGGRANDIZEMENT FLOWING FROM CERTAIN TRANSACTIONS IN INDIA.
 X. 
ODE X. ON THE EVENING.
 XI. 
ODE XI. CUPID'S ADDRESS;
 XII. 
ODE XII. ON SEEING A LADY'S PORTRAIT.
 XIII. 
ODE XIII. LOVE OF PLEASURE.
 XIV. 
ODE XIV. THE MUSIC OF THE GROVES.
 XV. 
ODE XV. GAIA, OR MY OWN HONEST LANDLADY IN A COUNTRY VILLAGE.
 XVI. 
ODE XVI. THE PHILOSOPHY OF EVIL.
 XVII. 
ODE XVII. ADDRESS TO THE CAM.
 XVIII. 
ODE XVIII. TO A LADY, WHO HAD RALLIED THE AUTHOR IN THE MONTHLY MAGAZINE, FOR HIS REJECTION OF TITLES.
 XXI. 
ODE XXI. TO NARCISSA.
 XXII. 
ODE XXII. TO MELANCHOLY.
 XXIII. 
ODE XXIII. MEDITATED IN THE CLOISTERS OF CHRIST'S HOSPITAL.
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BOOK THE THIRD.
 II. 
ODE II. ON THE CLOSE OF AUTUMN, AFTER AN EXCURSION THROUGH HERTFORDSHIRE AND ESSEX.
 III. 
ODE III. THE RANSOM.
 IV. 
ODE IV. ON SCIENCE.
 VI. 
ODE VI. TO AN ENTHUSIAST.
 VIII. 
ODE VIII. ON PEACE.
 IX. 
ODE IX. ON CONSIDERING THE UNSETTLED STATE OF EUROPE, AND THE OPPOSITION WHICH HAD BEEN MADE TO ATTEMPTS FOR THE ABOLITION OF THE SLAVE-TRADE.
 XII. 
ODE XII. WRITTEN ON THE DEATH OF JOHN HOWARD, AT HIS VILLA AT CARDINGTON, IN BEDFORDSHIRE.
 XIII. 
ODE XIII. TO THE NIGHTINGALE.
 XV. 
ODE XV. TO A MINIATURE PAINTER,
 XXI. 
ODE XXI. AN EPITAPH FOR A HUMAN BEING.
 XXII. 
ODE XXII. TO A HUMBLE FRIEND.
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BOOK THE FOURTH.
 II. 
ODE II. AN ENGLISH SAPPHIC, IN PRAISE OF SNUFF AND TOBACCO.
 III. 
ODE III. TO MUSIC.
 IV. 
ODE IV. ON WINE.
 V. 
ODE V. AFTER VISITING DRYBURGH ABBEY, IN BERWICKSHIRE.
 VI. 
ODE VI. THE CHARM OF MUSIC.
 VII. 
ODE VII. HYMN TO CHARITY.
 VIII. 
ODE VIII. THE SAILOR.
 IX. 
ODE IX. THE TRIUMPH OF POETRY.
 X. 
ODE X. A SONG.
 XI. 
ODE XI. ON THE DEATH OF FRIENDS, AND THE HAVOC OF WAR.
 XII. 
ODE XII. HYMN TO HEALTH.
 XIII. 
ODE XIII.
 XIV. 
ODE XIV.

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71

ODE XI. CUPID'S ADDRESS;

OR THE LOVES OF THE PLANTS.

“Teeming with nature's living fires,
“I bid thee welcome, genial spring;
“While the spheres wake their mystic lyres;
“And woods and vales responsive ring.
“She comes—Lo! winter scowls away;
“And forms harmonious start to view,
“Nymphs tripping light in circles gay,
“And deck'd in robes of varied hue.”
Now I, to amorous mischief bent,
Like a sly archer, take my stand,
Wide thro' the world my shafts are sent,
And every creature owns my hand.
72

Thro' seas and earth, and boundless sky,
The sweet subjection all must prove,
Whether they swim the stream, or fly,
Or thro' the boundless forest rove.
Nor less the garden's sweet domain,
The mossy heath, and pregnant mead,
The towering hill, the level plain,
And fields with verdant life o'erspread.
Ye plants, that catch the sunny ray;
Ye flowers, which drink the morning dew;
Now all your softest charms display;
Connubial-leagu'd your tribes renew.
Now shine the parterre's grace and pride,
Beneath the fragrant hedge-row gleam;
Or bending from the green bank's side,
Kiss your own beauties in the stream.
Ah! why should ye, a short-liv'd race,
Be niggards of your sweetest bloom?
That soil where now ye rise in grace,
That soil shall soon become your tomb.
Another archer skulks unseen—
Ne'er from his mark the arrows stray;
And I shall drop my arrows keen,
And leave to Death his feeble prey.
73

Heed then my call ye short-liv'd race,
Nor idly waste one fleeting hour;
Let sweetness fill your little space;
For soon ye fade to bloom no more.
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