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[Page 337]
[Translation] 2. THE JACK DAW.
1.
1 THERE is a bird who by his coat,
2 And by the hoarseness of his note,
3 Might be suppós'd a crow;
4 A great frequenter of the church,
5 Where bishop-like he finds a perch,
6 And dormitory too.
2.
[Page 338]7 Above the steeple shines a plate,
8 That turns and turns, to indicate
9 From what point blows the weather;
10 Look up — your brains begin to swim,
11 'Tis in the clouds — that pleases him,
12 He chooses it the rather.
3.
13 Fond of the speculative height,
14 Thither he wings his airy flight,
15 And thence securely sees
16 The bustle and the raree-show
17 That occupy mankind below,
18 Secure and at his ease.
4.
19 You think no doubt he sits and muses
20 On future broken bones and bruises,
21 If he should chance to fall;
22 No not a single thought like that
23 Employs his philosophic pate,
24 Or troubles it at all.
5.
[Page 339]25 He sees that this great roundabout
26 The world, with all its motley rout,
27 Church, army, physic, law,
28 Its customs and its businesses
29 Are no concern at all of his,
30 And says, what says he? Caw.
6.
31 Thrice happy bird! I too have seen
32 Much of the vanities of men,
33 And sick of having seen e'm,
34 Would chearfully these limbs resign
35 For such a pair of wings as thine,
36 And such a head between 'em.
About this text
Author: Vincent Bourne; William Cowper (translator)
Themes:
animals
Genres:
translation
Text view / Document view
Source edition
Cowper, William, 1731-1800. Poems: by William Cowper, of the Inner Temple, Esq. London: printed for J. Johnson, 1782, pp. 337-339. [4],367,[1]p. ; 8⁰. (ESTC T14895; OTA K027775.000) (Page images digitized by the University of California Libraries.)
Editorial principles
The text has been typographically modernized, but without any silent modernization of spelling, capitalization, or punctuation. The source of the text is given and all editorial interventions have been recorded in textual notes. Based on the electronic text originally produced by the TCP project, this ECPA text has been edited to conform to the recommendations found in Level 5 of the Best Practices for TEI in Libraries version 4.0.0.
Other works by William Cowper
- ANOTHER. Addressed to a YOUNG LADY. ()
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- CHARITY. ()
- A COMPARISON. ()
- CONVERSATION. ()
- THE DIVERTING HISTORY OF JOHN GILPIN, SHEWING HOW HE WENT FARTHER THAN HE INTENDED AND CAME SAFE HOME AGAIN. ()
- THE DOVES. ()
- AN EPISTLE TO JOSEPH HILL, ESQ. ()
- EXPOSTULATION. ()
- A FABLE. ()
- HEROISM. ()
- HOPE. ()
- HORACE. Book the 2d. ODE the 10th. ()
- HUMAN FRAILTY. ()
- THE LILY AND THE ROSE. ()
- THE LOVE OF THE WORLD REPROVED; OR, HYPOCRISY DETECTED. ()
- THE MODERN PATRIOT. ()
- MUTUAL FORBEARANCE, Necessary to the Happiness of the Married State. ()
- THE NIGHTINGALE AND GLOW-WORM. ()
- ODE TO PEACE. ()
- On a GOLDFINCH starved to Death in his Cage. ()
- On observing some Names of little Note recorded in the BIOGRAPHIA BRITANNICA. ()
- On the Burning of LORD MANSFIELD'S Library, together with his MSS. by the Mob, in the Month of June, 1780. ()
- On the Promotion of EDWARD THURLOW, Esq. to the Lord High Chancellorship of ENGLAND. ()
- ON THE SAME. ()
- The PINE APPLE and the BEE. ()
- THE POET, THE OYSTER, AND SENSITIVE PLANT. ()
- THE PROGRESS OF ERROR. ()
- A REFLECTION on the foregoing ODE. ()
- REPORT Of an adjudged Case not to be found in any of the Books. ()
- RETIREMENT. ()
- THE SHRUBBERY, Written in a Time of Affliction. ()
- TABLE TALK. ()
- [THE TASK, A POEM, IN SIX BOOKS.] BOOK I. ()
- [THE TASK, A POEM, IN SIX BOOKS.] BOOK II. ()
- [THE TASK, A POEM, IN SIX BOOKS.] BOOK III. ()
- [THE TASK, A POEM, IN SIX BOOKS.] BOOK IV. ()
- [THE TASK, A POEM, IN SIX BOOKS.] BOOK V. ()
- [THE TASK, A POEM, IN SIX BOOKS.] BOOK VI. ()
- TIROCINIUM. ()
- To the REV. MR. NEWTON. An Invitation into the Country. ()
- To the Rev. WILLIAM CAWTHORNE UNWIN. ()
- [Translation] 1. THE GLOW-WORM, ()
- [Translation] 3. THE CRICKET. ()
- [Translation] 4. THE PARROT. ()
- TRUTH. ()
- VERSES, supposed to be written by ALEXANDER SELKIRK, during his solitary Abode in the Island of JUAN FERNANDEZ. ()
- THE WINTER NOSEGAY. ()