What I did today.

Much have I travell’d in my antique books
And many poems short and long have read,
That recount the epic deeds of those now dead:
Brazen warriors and resourceful rooks.
Oft had I been told of a wrathful man,
Whose pride beneath the tents, and sneer of cold
Command, and grief, and speeches loud and bold
Show his author those passions well could scan.

Now on the wrinkled page this text appears:
“For know, thy blood, when next thou darest invade,
Shall stream in vengeance on my reeking blade.”
Nothing outside remains. After long years
Glory is forgotten even by shades,
Silent, upon a peak in Hades.

The quotation is from Pope's translation of the Iliad.

And on the next day I changed "After many years" to "After long years", but maybe I'll change it back—who can say?

Comments

[Chopper]

Did he really rhyme shades and Hades?

Wow.

I'm Slim Hades, yes I'm the real Hades, all you other Hades is just pale shades...

[ben wolfson]

Shelley rhymed "frown" with "stone".

[tammy]

Tim Curry rhymed "pores" with "cause." It actually did rhyme.

[Matt Weiner]

Am I to understand that, except for the quoted material, that is your own original parody of "Ozymandias" and "On First Looking into Chapman's Homer"? That is pimp tight.

[ben wolfson]

That is what you are to understand.

[Matt Weiner]

You, indeed, are da man.

[dave zacuto]

Good poemery, ben

[ben wolfson]

Thanks. It occurred to me on the train home that Pride beneath the Tents would make great title for a safari-themed romance novel aimed at the furry audience.

[Craig]

This is great! Ben, your talents are wasted on this late and diminished age.

[Matt Weiner]

Rereading this, I am moved once again to remark its tightness and pimposity. Damn. The quote of 'sneer of cold command', moved so a different word rhymes, is especially smokin'.

This is definitely send-it-off-to-a-literary-journal good, or maybe too-good-to-send-to-a-literary-journal good. (Disclaimer: I don't own a literary journal.)

[Matt Weiner]

'remark' really should be 'remark on', I guess

[Chopper]

I find myself embarassed for not realizing this was something you wrote. Let me echo everyone's admiration--you're a man of many talents.

[Therese Sorey]

Can I use it when next I teach Shelley?

[ben w]

But of course.