ODE FOR MUSICK. Alexander Pope Alexander Huber Editor Bodleian Libraries, University of Oxford
Broad Street Oxford OX1 3BG UK
Eighteenth-Century Poetry Archive
Taylor Institution Library St Giles' Oxford OX1 3NA UK info@eighteenthcenturypoetry.org https://www.eighteenthcenturypoetry.org/
Oxford This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported License. T5694 P904 K023150.000 Pope, Alexander, 1688-1744. Ode for musick. London printed for Bernard Lintott 1713 pp. 1-8. [4],8p. ; 2⁰.

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ODE FOR MUSICK . I. DEscend ye Nine ! descend and sing ; The breathing Instruments inspire , Wake into Voice each silent String , And sweep the sounding Lyre ! In a sadly-pleasing Strain Let the warbling Lute complain : Let the loud Trumpet sound , Till the Roofs all around The shrill Ecchos rebound : While in more lengthen'd Notes and slow , The deep , majestick , solemn Organs blow . Hark ! the Numbers , soft and clear , Gently steal upon the Ear ; Now louder , and yet louder rise , And fill with spreading Sounds the Skies ; Exulting in Triumph now swell the bold Notes , In broken Air , trembling , the wild Musick floats ; Till , by degrees , remote and small , The Strains decay , And melt away In a dying , dying Fall . II . By Musick , Minds an equal Temper know , Nor swell too high , nor sink too low . If in the Breast tumultuous Joys arise , Musick her soft , assuasive Voice applies ; Or when the Soul is press'd with Cares Exalts her in enlivening Airs . Warriors she fires with animated Sounds ; Pours Balm into the bleeding Lover's Wounds : At Musick , Melancholy lifts her Head ; Dull Morpheus rowzes from his Bed ; Sloath from its Lethargy awakes , And list'ning Envy drops her Snakes ; Intestine War no more our Passions wage , Ev'n giddy Factions hear away their Rage . III . But when our Country's Cause provokes to Arms , How martial Musick every Bosom warms ! So when the first bold Vessel dar'd the Seas , High on the Stern the Thracian rais'd his Strain , While Argo saw her kindred Trees Descend from Pelion to the Main . Transported Demi-Gods stood round , And Men grew Heroes at the Sound , Enflam'd with Glory's Charms : Each Chief his sevenfold Shield display'd , And half unsheath'd the shining Blade ; And Seas , and Rocks , and Skies rebound To Arms , to Arms , to Arms ! IV . But when thro' all th' Infernal Bounds Which flaming Phlegeton surrounds , Sad Orpheus sought his Consort lost ; Th' Inexorable Gates were barr'd , And nought was seen , and nought was heard Around the dreary Coast , But dreadful Gleams , Dismal Screams , Fires that glow , Shrieks of Woe , Sullen Moans , Hollow Groans , And Cries of tortur'd Ghosts . But hark ! he strikes the golden Lyre ; And see ! the tortur'd Ghosts respire , See shady Forms advance ! Thy Stone , O Sysiphus , stands still ; Ixion rests upon his Wheel , And the pale Spectres dance ! The Furies sink upon their Iron Beds , And Snakes uncurl'd hang list'ning round their Heads . V. By the Streams that ever flow , By the fragrant Winds that blow O'er th' Elysian Flowers , By those happy Souls who dwell In Yellow Meads of Asphodel , Or Amaranthine Bowers : By the Heroe's armed Shades Glitt'ring thro' the gloomy Glades , By the Youths that dy'd for Love , Wandring in the Myrtle Grove , Restore , restore Eurydice to Life ; Oh take the Husband , or return the Wife . He sung , and Hell consented To hear the Poet's Pray'r ; Stern Proserpine relented , And gave him back the Fair . Thus Song could prevail O'er Death and o'er Hell , A Conquest how hard and how glorious ? Tho' Fate had fast bound her With Styx nine times round her , Yet Musick and Love were Victorious . VI . But soon , too soon , the Lover turns his Eyes : Again she falls , again she dies , she dies ! How wilt thou now the fatal Sisters move ? No Crime was thine , if 'tis no Crime to love . Now under hanging Mountains , Beside the Falls of Fountains , Or where Hebrus wanders , Rolling in Maeanders , All alone , Unheard , unknown , He makes his Moan ; And calls her Ghost For ever , ever , ever lost ! Now with Furies surrounded , Despairing , confounded , He trembles , he glows , Amidst Rhodope's Snows : See , wild as the Winds , o'er the Desart he flies ; Hark ! Haemus resounds with the Bacchanals Cries — — Ah see , he dies ! Yet ev'n in Death Eurydice he sung , Eurydice still trembled on his Tongue , Eurydice the Woods , Eurydice the Floods , Eurydice the Rocks , and hollow Mountains rung . VII . Musick the fiercest Griefs can charm , And Fate's severest Rage disarm : Musick can soften Pain to Ease , And make Despair and Madness please : Our Joys below it can improve , And antedate the Bliss above . This the Divine Cecilia found , And to her Maker's Praise confin'd the Sound . When the full Organ joins the tuneful Quire , The Immortal Pow'rs incline their Ear ; Born on the swelling Notes our Souls aspire , While solemn Airs improve the sacred Fire ; And Angels lean from Heav'n to hear ! Of Orpheus now no more let Poets tell , To bright Cecilia greater Pow'r is giv'n ; His Numbers rais'd a Shade from Hell , Hers lift the Soul to Heav'n . FINIS .