Abraham Cowley
 
 

FROM  Poetical Blossoms, 1636

To the Reader. 

     Reader  (I  know  not  yet  whether  gentle  or  no) Some I know have
been  angry  (I dare not  assume the honor of  their envy)  at  my  poetical
boldness,  and  blamed  in  mine  what  commends  other  fruits,  earliness.
.  .  .  The  small  fire  I  have  is  rather  blown  than  extinguished  by this
wind.  For  the  itch  of  poesy  by being  angered  increaseth,  by  rubbing
spreads farther ;  which appears in that I have ventured upon this  second
edition.  .  .  .  I  would  not  be  angry  to  see  any  one  burn  up  Pyramus
and Thisbe,  nay  I  would  do  it  myself,  but  that  I  hope  a  pardon  may
easily  be  gotten  for  the  errors  of  ten  years  age.    My  Constantia  and
Philetus  confesseth  me  two  years  older  when  I  writ  it.  .  .  .

A.C.    

 




Source:
Poetry of the English Renaissance 1509-1660.
J. William Hebel and Hoyt H. Hudson, eds.
New York: F. S. Crofts & Co., 1941. 829.


 
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