Page:Vida's Art of Poetry.djvu/100

 To scenes inanimate proclaim their love, Talk with a hill, or whisper to a grove. On you they call, ye unattentive woods, And wait an answer from your bord'ring floods.


 * they speak one thing, but leave behind

Another secret meaning in the mind. A fair expression artfully dispense, But use a word that clashes with the sense. Thus pious Helen stole the faithful sword, While Troy was flaming, from her sleeping lord. So glorious Drances tow'r'd amid the plain, And pil'd the ground with mountains of the slain; Immortal trophies rais'd from squadrons kill'd, And with vast spoils ennobled all the field.


 * now to mention farther I forbear,

With what strong charms they captivate the ear; When the same terms they happily repeat, The same repeated seem more soft and sweet.