ODE VI. On the Absence of the Poetic Inclination. Mark Akenside Alexander Huber Editor Bodleian Libraries, University of Oxford
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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. T42068 K027268.000 Akenside, Mark, 1721-1770. Odes on several subjects. London printed for R. Dodsley. And sold by M. Cooper. M.DCC.XLV. 1745 pp. 32-33. 54p.; 4⁰.

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ODE VI . On the Absence of the Poetic Inclination . QUEEN of my songs , harmonious maid , Why , why hast thou withdrawn thy aid ? Why thus forsook my widow'd breast , With dark infeebling damps oppress'd ? Where is the bold prophetic heat , With which my bosom wont to beat ? Where all the bright mysterious dreams Of haunted shades and tuneful streams , That woo'd my Genius to divinest themes ? Say , can the purple charms of wine , Or young DIONE'S form divine , Or flatt'ring scenes of promis'd fame Relume thy faint , thy dying flame ? Have soft , melodious airs the pow'r , To give one free , poetick hour ? Or from amid th' Elysian train , The soul of MILTON shall I gain , To win the back with some coelestial strain ? O mighty mind ! O sacred flame ! My spirit kindles at his name ; Again my lab'ring bosom burns ; The Muse , th' inspiring Muse returns ! Such on the banks of TYNE confest , I hail'd the bright , ethereal guest , When first She seal'd me for her own , Made all her blissful treasures known , And bade me swear to follow HER alone .