Ode, On the 4th of November

ON THE 4TH OF NOVEMBER, THE ANNIVERSARY OF THE
REVOLUTION, 1688 .

A COLLEGE EXERCISE .

IN IMITATION OF ALCÆUS .

What constitutes the Bard?
Not silver sounds, nor numbers that compel
Proud Tyranny's regard;
Not the sweet witchery of Fancy's spell,
That can at will entrance
The captive sense, and bid the charmed soul,
To faery measures dance:
No — but an energy that spurns controul,
An intellectual fire,
That fann'd by Freedom, to sublimest heights
Impels us to aspire,
And from base earth the spirit disunites:
This constitutes the Bard.
Then in the shouts that " ring from side to side "
Loud o'er the rest be heard,
The Muse's hail! which at this season wide
May pour the patriot rage,
She, Freedom's best ally, whose voice alone
Through ev'ry clime and age
Prevailing, mocks the thunders of the throne.
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