Argus

When wise Ulysses, from his native coast

Long kept by wars, and long by tempests toss'd,

Arrived at last, poor, old, disguised, alone,

To all his friends, and ev'n his Queen unknown,

Changed as he was, with age, and toils, and cares,

Furrow'd his rev'rend face, and white his hairs,

In his own palace forc'd to ask his bread,

Scorn'd by those slaves his former bounty fed,

Forgot of all his own domestic crew,

The faithful Dog alone his rightful master knew!

Unfed, unhous'd, neglected, on the clay

Like an old servant now cashier'd, he lay;

Touch'd with resentment of ungrateful man,

And longing to behold his ancient lord again.

Him when he saw he rose, and crawl'd to meet,

('Twas all he could) and fawn'd and kiss'd his feet,

Seiz'd with dumb joy; then falling by his side,

Own'd his returning lord, look'd up, and died!

Alexander Pope

Alexander Pope, (born May 21, 1688, London, England—died May 30, 1744, Twickenham, near London), poet and satirist of the English Augustan period, best known for his poems An Essay on Criticism (1711), The Rape of the Lock (1712–14), The Dunciad (1728), and An Essay on Man (1733–34). He is one of the most epigrammatic of all English authors. Pope’s command of diction is no less happily adapted to his theme and to the type of poem, and the range of his imagery is remarkably wide. He has been thought defective in imaginative power, but this opinion cannot be sustained in view of the invention and organizing ability shown notably in The Rape of the Lock and The Dunciad. He was the first English poet to enjoy contemporary fame in France and Italy and throughout the European continent and to see translations of his poems into modern as well as ancient languages.

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Argus

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