Sound and Sense by Alexander Pope
True ease in writing comes from art, not chance,
As
those move easiest who have learned to dance.
’Tis
not enough no harshness gives offense,
The
sound must seem an echo to the sense:
Soft
is the strain when Zephyr gently blows,
And
the smooth stream in smoother numbers flows;
But
when loud surges lash the sounding shore,
The
hoarse, rough verse should like the torrent roar;
When
Ajax strives some rock’s vast weight to throw,
The
line too labors, and the words move slow;
Not
so, when swift Camilla scours the plain,
Flies
o’er the unbending corn, and skims along the main.
Hear
how Timotheus’ varied lays surprise,
And
bid alternate passions fall and rise!
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