Ah, Ben! Say how, or when Shall we, thy guests, Meet at those lyric feasts Made at the Sun, The Dog, the Triple Tun?1 Where we such clusters had, As made us nobly wild, not mad; And yet each verse of thine Out-did the meat, out-did the frolic wine. My Ben! Or come again, Or send to us Thy wit's great overplus; But teach us yet Wisely to husband it, Lest we that talent spend; And having once brought to an end That precious stock, the store Of such a wit the world should have no more.
Poet to Poet: an Ode to Ben Jonson
Song Cycle by Miriam Gideon (1906 - 1996)
1. An Ode for Ben Jonson  [sung text checked 1 time]
Language: English
Authorship:
- by Robert Herrick (1591 - 1674), "An Ode for Him"
Go to the single-text view
View original text (without footnotes)Note: the "Him" in the title is Ben Jonson. In the collection, this follows the poem "Upon Ben Jonson"
1 The Sun, The Dog, etc. were famous taverns.
Researcher for this text: Emily Ezust [Administrator]
2. To Thomas Moore  [sung text checked 1 time]
Language: English
What are you doing now, Oh Thomas Moore? What are you doing now, Oh Thomas Moore? Sighing or suing now, Rhyming or wooing now, Billing or cooing now, Which, Thomas Moore? But the Carnival's coming, Oh Thomas Moore! The Carnival's coming, Oh Thomas Moore! Masking and humming, Fifing and drumming, Guitarring and strumming, Oh Thomas Moore!
Authorship:
- by George Gordon Noel Byron, Lord Byron (1788 - 1824), "To Tom Little"
Go to the single-text view
Researcher for this text: Emily Ezust [Administrator]3. Ave atque vale (In Memory of Charles Baudelaire)  [sung text checked 1 time]
Language: English
Now all strange hours and all strange loves are over,
Dreams and desires and sombre songs and sweet,
Hast thou found place at the great knees and feet
Of some pale Titan-woman like a lover,
Such as thy vision here solicited,
Under the shadow of her fair vast head,
The deep division of prodigious breasts,
The solemn slope of mighty limbs asleep,
The weight of awful tresses that still keep
The savour and shade of old-world pine-forests
Where the wet hill-winds weep?
[ ... ]
Authorship:
- by Algernon Charles Swinburne (1837 - 1909), "Ave atque Vale (In memory of Charles Baudelaire)"
Go to the single-text view
Researcher for this text: Emily Ezust [Administrator]Total word count: 1714