The Progress of Poesy - T. Gray

2 years ago
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140 The Progress of Poesy (A Pindaric Ode)
The one-hundred and fortieth poem in the collection. *(additional notes below - after my un-schooled interpretation).'
Correction: I say 'ear' when I should say 'car'. "Dryden's less presumptuous car"

*NOTES FROM THE BACK OF THE BOOK:

"Aeolian lyre: the Greeks ascribed the origin of their Lyrical Poetry to the colonies of Aeolis in Asia Minor.

Thracia's hills supposed a favourite resort of Mars.

Feather'd king the Eagle of Jupiter, admirably described by Pindar in a passage here imitated by Gray.

Idalia: in Cyprus, where Cytherea (Venus) was especially worshipped.

Hyperion: the Sun. St. 6-8 allude to the Poets of the Islands and Mainland of Greece, to those of Rome and of England.

Theban Eagle: Pindar."

ps: Helicon's harmonious springs = the fountain of all song;
Mt. Positive associated with the muses;
vernal = springtime;
He, that rode sublime = Milton in Paradise Lost.

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