Nature is rising from the dead,
Frost and Scythian snows are fled;
Boreas to his cavern creeps,
And, tired with winter-blust'ring sleeps.
Soft zephyrs from the ocean move,
The birthplace of the Queen of Love,
And o'er the meadows, hills and dales
Play with their sweet reviving gales;
Chasing all discontent and care
And ev'ry sadness, but despair.
Ah! Chloe, when, my charming fair?
John Winstanley ,1732
And a brief note on the classical allusions:
Scythia = the old name for the Russian steppe, it was a byword for cold.
Boreas = the personified north wind
Zephyrs = the mild west wind
The Queen of Love = the goddess Venus who rose from the sea, as in Boticelli's painting.
N.B. Not one fool.
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Rabbits rot, rabbits cold, rabbits new, rabbits old, rabbits tender, rabbits tough, rabbits I've had enough.
ReplyDeleteHave a nice month everybody!
Long live Aphrodite!
Just for fun:- I am (very) distantly related to the Winstanley family through my maternal grandmother. That includes todays featured author, Henry the lighthouse builder and William the 'Saviour of Christmas' known for writing rather inaccurate histories and very bad poetry. Fun having mad relatives isn't it!
ReplyDeleteAh, yet April is the cruelest month. Thought it's possibly March now, since Eliot's day.
ReplyDelete