Alexander Pope
The Quiet Life
- Happy the man whose wish and care
- A few paternal acres bound
- Content to breathe his native air
- In his own ground.
- Whose herd with milk, whose fields with bread,
- Whose flocks supply him with attire;
- Whose trees in summer yield him shade,
- In winter, fire.
- Blest, who can unconcern’dly find
- Hours, days, and years, slide soft away
- In health of body; peace of mind;
- Quiet by day;
- Sound sleep by night; study and ease
- Together mix’d; sweet recreation,
- And innocence, which most does please
- With meditation.
- Thus let me live, unseen, unknown;
- Thus unlamented let me die;
- Steal from the world, and not a stone
- Tell where I lie.
Belinda (from The Rape of the Lock)
- On her white Breast a sparkling Cross she wore,
- Which Jews might kiss, and Infidels adore.
- Her lively Looks a sprightly Mind disclose,
- Quick as her Eyes, and as unfix’d as those:
- Favours to none, to all she Smiles extends,
- Oft she rejects, but never once offends.
- Bright as the Sun, her Eyes the Gazers strike,
- And, like the Sun, they shine on all alike.
- Yet graceful Ease, and Sweetness void of Pride,
- Might hide her Faults, if Belles had Faults to hide:
- If to her share some Female Errors fall,
- Look on her Face, and you’ll forget ’em all.
Alexander Pope (1688–1744) was an 18th-century English poet and bright light of the Augustan Age of English poetry, best known for his satirical verse and his translation of Homer into heroic couplets.