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Odes (1619)
AN ODE WRITTEN IN THE PEAK
THIS while we are abroad,
Shall we not touch our lyre?
Shall we not sing an ode?
Shall that holy fire,
In us that strongly glow'd,
In this cold air expire?
Long since the summer laid
Her lusty brav'ry down,
The autumn half is way'd,
And Boreas 'gins to frown,
Since now I did behold
Great Brute's first builded town.1
Though in the utmost Peak,
A while we do remain,
Amongst the mountains bleak
Exposed to sleet and rain,
No sport our hours shall break,
To exercise our vein.
What though bright Phœbus' beams
Refresh the southern ground,
And though the princely Thames
With beauteous nymphs abound,
And by old Camber's streams
Be many wonders found;
Yet many rivers clear
Here glide in silver swathes;
And what of all most dear,
Buxton's delicious baths,
Strong ale and noble cheer,
To assuage breem2 winter's scathes.
Those grim and horrid caves,
Whose looks affright the day;
Wherein nice3 nature saves
What she would not bewray,
Our better leisure craves,
And doth invite our lay.
In places far or near,
Or famous or obscure,
Where wholesome is the air,
Or where the most impure,
All times and everywhere,
The muse is still in ure.4
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[AJ Notes:
1. Brute's...town, Brutus of Troy, descendant of Aeneas; in myth,
the eponymous founder (and first king) of Britain, who
was said to have founded "New Troy," later named London.
2. breem, brisk, sharp, fierce.
3. nice, careful.
4. in ure, in use, at work.]
Source:
Beeching, H. C., ed. A Selection from the Poetry of Samuel Daniel & Michael Drayton.
London: J. M. Dent & Co., 1899. 110-111.
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Created by Anniina Jokinen on September 21, 2022.
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London in the time of Henry VII. MS. Roy. 16 F. ii.
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Michael Drayton
