Poetry

"If to her share some female errors fall, Look on her face, and you'll forget 'em all."

"Fair tresses man's imperial race ensnare, And beauty draws us with a single hair."

"On her white breast a sparkling cross she wore Which Jews might kiss, and infidels adore."

"Bright as the sun, her eyes the gazers strike, And, like the sun, they shine on all alike."

"Belinda smiled, and all the world was gay."

"Now lap-dogs give themselves the rousing shake, And sleepless lovers, just at twelve, awake."

"What dire offence from amorous causes springs, What mighty contests rise from trivial things!"

"They shift the moving toyshop of their heart."

"This casket India's glowing gems unlocks And all Arabia breathes from yonder box."

"Whether the nymph shall break Diana's law, Or some frail China jar receive a flaw, Or stain her honour, or her new brocade, Forget her prayers, or miss a masquerade."

"The “Eight Anthologies” of poetry (or eññuttokai ) abound in references to many gods : Shiva, Uma, Murugan, Vishnu, Lakshmi (named Tiru, which corresponds to Sri) and several other Saktis. The Paripàóal, one of those anthologies, consists almost entirely of devotional poetry to Vishnu. One poem begins with a homage to him and Lakshmi, and goes on to praise Garuda, Shiva on his “majestic bull,” the four-faced Brahma, the twelve âdityas, the Ashwins, the Rudras, the Saptarishis, Indra with his “dreaded thunderbolt,” the devas and asuras, etc., and makes glowing references to the Vedas and Vedic scholars. So does the Puranànåru, another of the eight anthologies, which in addition sees Lord Shiva as the source of the four Vedas and describes Lord Vishnu as “blue-hued” and “Garuda-bannered”. Similarly, a poem of a third anthology, the Akanànåru, declares that Shiva and Vishnu are the greatest of gods."

"It is unfortunate that the most ancient Sangam compositions are probably lost for ever ; we only know of them through brief quotations in later works. An early text, the Tamil grammar Tolkàppiyam, dated by most scholars to the first or second century AD,35 is “said to have been modelled on the Sanskrit grammar of the Aindra school.”"

"Its content, says N. Raghunathan, shows that “the great literature of Sanskrit and the work of its grammarians and rhetoricians were well known and provided stimulus to creative writers in Tamil.... The Tolkàppiyam adopts the entire Rasa theory as worked out in the Nàtya øàstra of Bharata.”"

"It also refers to rituals and customs coming from the “Aryans,” a word which in Sangam literature simply means North Indians of Vedic culture ; for instance, the Tolkàppiyam “states definitely that marriage as a sacrament attended with ritual was established in the Tamil country by the Aryas,”"

"The Tolkàppiyam also formulates the captivating division of the Tamil land into five regions (tiõai ), each associated with one particular aspect of love, one poetical expression, and also one deity : thus the hills (kuriji ) with union and with Cheyon (Murugan) ; the desert (pàlai ) with separation and Koççavai (Durga) ; the forests (mullai ) with awaiting and Mayon (Vishnu-Krishna) ; the seashore (neytal ) with wailing and Varuna ; and the cultivated lands (marutam) with quarrel and Ventan (Indra). Thus from the beginning we have a fusion of non-Vedic deities (Murugan or Koççavai), Vedic gods (Indra, Varuna) and later Puranic deities such as Vishnu (Màl or Tirumàl). Such a synthesis is quite typical of the Hindu temperament and cannot be the result of an overnight or superficial influence ; it is also as remote as possible from the separateness we are told is at the root of so-called “Dravidian culture.”"

"We have served our day."

"Ah, would swift ships had never been, for then we ne’er had found, These harsh Ægean rocks between, this little virgin drowned, Whom neither spouse nor child shall mourn, but men she nursed through pain And—certain keels for whose return the heathen look in vain."

"We counterfeited once for your disport Men’s joy and sorrow: but our day has passed. We pray you pardon all where we fell short Seeing we were your servants to this last."

"One used and butchered me: another spied Me broken—for which thing an hundred died. So it was learned among the heathen hosts How much a freeborn woman’s favour costs."

"Headless, lacking foot and hand, Horrible I come to land. I beseech all women’s sons Know I was a mother once."

"I have watched a thousand days Push out and crawl into night Slowly as tortoises. Now I, too, follow these. It is fever, and not the fight— Time, not battle—that slays."

"Call me not false, beloved, If, from thy scarce-known breast So little time removed, In other arms I rest.For this more ancient bride Whom coldly I embrace Was constant at my side Before I saw thy face.Our marriage, often set— By miracle delayed— At last is consummate, And cannot be unmade.Live, then, whom Life shall cure. Almost, of Memory, And leave us to endure Its immortality."

"I was a shepherd to fools Causelessly bold or afraid. They would not abide by my rules. Yet they escaped. For I stayed."

"If I had clamoured at Thy Gate For gift of Life on Earth, And, thrusting through the souls that wait, Flung headlong into birth— Even then, even then, for gin and snare About my pathway spread, Lord, I had mocked Thy thoughtful care Before I joined the Dead! But now? ... I was beneath Thy Hand Ere yet the Planets came. And now—though Planets pass, I stand The witness to Thy shame."

"I could not dig: I dared not rob: Therefore I lied to please the mob. Now all my lies are proved untrue And I must face the men I slew. What tale shall serve me here among Mine angry and defrauded young?"

"Daily, though no ears attended, Did my prayers arise. Daily, though no fire descended Did I sacrifice. Though my darkness did not lift, Though I faced no lighter odds, Though the Gods bestowed no gift, None the less, None the less, I served the Gods!"

"If any mourn us in the workshop, say We died because the shift kept holiday."

"Faithless the watch that I kept: now I have none to keep. I was slain because I slept: now I am slain I sleep. Let no man reproach me again; whatever watch is unkept— I sleep because I am slain. They slew me because I slept."

"If any question why we died, Tell them, because our fathers lied."

"He from the wind-bitten north with ship and companions descended. Searching for eggs of death spawned by invisible hulls. Many he found and drew forth. Of a sudden the fishery ended In flame and a clamorous breath not new to the eye-pecking gulls."

"I was of delicate mind. I stepped aside for my needs, Disdaining the common office. I was seen from afar and killed... How is this matter for mirth? Let each man be judged by his deeds. I have paid my price to live with myself on the terms that I willed."

"brought down fire to men. This brought up water. The Gods are jealous—now, as then, Giving no quarter."

"For Fog and Fate no charm is found To lighten or amend. I, hurrying to my bride, was drowned— Cut down by my best friend."

"On land and sea I strove with anxious care To escape conscription. It was in the air!"

"Gods of the Nile, should this stout fellow here Get out—get out! He knows not shame nor fear."

"My name, my speech, my self I had forgot. My wife and children came—I knew them not. I died. My Mother followed. At her call And on her bosom I remembered all."

"The blown sand heaps on me, that none may learn Where I am laid for whom my children grieve. ... O wings that beat at dawning, ye return Out of the desert to your young at eve!"

"This man in his own country prayed we know not to what Powers. We pray Them to reward him for his bravery in ours."

"I could not look on Death, which being known, Men led me to him, blindfold and alone."

"Pity not! The Army gave Freedom to a timid slave: In which Freedom did he find Strength of body, will, and mind: By which strength he came to prove Mirth, Companionship, and Love: For which Love to Death he went: In which Death he lies content."

"Death favoured me from the first, well knowing I could not endure To wait on him day by day. He quitted my betters and came Whistling over the fields, and, when he had made all sure, “Thy line is at end,” he said, “but at least I have saved its name.”"

"Body and Spirit I surrendered whole To harsh Instructors—and received a soul ... If mortal man could change me through and through From all I was—what may The God not do?"

"We were together since the War began. He was my servant—and the better man."

"A. “I was a Have.” B. “I was a ‘have-not.’” (Together.) “What hast thou given which I gave not?”"

"My son was killed while laughing at some jest. I would I knew What it was, and it might serve me in a time when jests are few."

"I have slain none except my Mother. She (Blessing her slayer) died of grief for me."

"On the first hour of my first day In the front trench I fell. (Children in boxes at a play Stand up to watch it well.)"

"Laughing through clouds, his milk-teeth still unshed, Cities and men he smote from overhead. His deaths delivered, he returned to play Childlike, with childish things now put away."

"William Thynne, A Translation of Ovid's Fasti into English Prose, Part I (Dublin: J. Cumming, 1833)"

"Sir James George Frazer, Ovid's Fasti, LCL 253 (London: William Heinemann Ltd; Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 1931)"