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 They best can judge a poet's worth,
 Who oft themselves have known
  The pangs of a poetic read more 
 They best can judge a poet's worth,
 Who oft themselves have known
  The pangs of a poetic birth
   By labours of their own. 
 Poets are all who love,--who feel great truths,
 And tell them.  
 Poets are all who love,--who feel great truths,
 And tell them. 
 Happy the poet who with ease can steer
 From grave to gay, from lively to severe.
  [Lat., read more 
 Happy the poet who with ease can steer
 From grave to gay, from lively to severe.
  [Lat., Heureux qui, dans ses vers, sait d'une voix legere
   Passer du grave au doux, du plaisant au severe.] 
 Greece, sound, thy Homer's, Rome thy Virgil's name,
 But England's Milton equals both in fame.  
 Greece, sound, thy Homer's, Rome thy Virgil's name,
 But England's Milton equals both in fame. 
Poets are soldiers that liberate words from the steadfast possession of definition.
Poets are soldiers that liberate words from the steadfast possession of definition.
 Ages elapsed ere Homer's lamp appeared,
 And ages ere the Mantuan Swan was heard;
  To carry nature read more 
 Ages elapsed ere Homer's lamp appeared,
 And ages ere the Mantuan Swan was heard;
  To carry nature lengths unknown before,
   To give a Milton birth, asked ages more. 
 A Poet without Love were a physical and metaphysical 
impossibility.  
 A Poet without Love were a physical and metaphysical 
impossibility. 
The most important thing for poets to do is to write as little as possible.
The most important thing for poets to do is to write as little as possible.
 There is a pleasure in poetic pains,
 Which only poets know.  
 There is a pleasure in poetic pains,
 Which only poets know.