Living

To the Author of Poems Published under the Name of Barry Cornwall

by Charles Lamb 1775–1834

From The Works of Charles and Mary Lamb, IV: Poems and Plays, ed. E. V. Lucas

Living

Let hate, or grosser heats, their foulness mask
Under the vizor of a borrowed name;
Let things eschew the light deserving blame:
No cause hast thou to blush for thy sweet task.
"Marcian Colonna" is a dainty book;
And thy "Sicilian Tale" may boldly pass;
Thy "Dream" 'bove all, in which, as in a glass,
On the great world's antique glories we may look.
No longer then, as "lowly substitute,
Factor, or PROCTOR, for another's gains,"
Suffer the admiring world to be deceived;
Lest thou thyself, by self of fame bereaved,
Lament too late the lost prize of thy pains,
And heavenly tunes piped through an alien flute.

MLA

Lamb, Charles. “To the Author of Poems Published under the Name of Barry Cornwall.” Poetry Codex, poetrycodex.com/poem/lamb/65/.

Chicago

Lamb, Charles. “To the Author of Poems Published under the Name of Barry Cornwall.” Poetry Codex. https://poetrycodex.com/poem/lamb/65/.

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