Matthew Prior (July 21, 1664 – September 18, 1721) was an English poet and diplomat. Prior was the son of a Nonconformist joiner at Wimborne Minster, East Dorset. His father moved to London, and sent him to Westminster School, under Dr. Busby. On his father's death, he left school, and was cared for by his uncle, a vintner in Channel Row. Here Lord Dorset found him reading Horace, and set him to translate an ode. He did so well that the earl offered to contribute to the continuation of his education at Westminster. One of his schoolfellows and friends was Charles Montagu, 1st Earl of Halifax. It was to avoid being separated from Montagu and his brother James that Prior accepted, against his patron's wish, a scholarship recently founded at St John's College, Cambridge. He took his B.A. degree in 1686, and two years later became a fellow. In collaboration with Montagu he wrote in 1687 the City Mouse and Country Mouse, in ridicule of John Dryden's The Hind and the Panther.
the lion hunt
Mount -- mount for the hunting -- with musket and spear!
Call our friends to the field -- for t...[read poem]
Call our friends to the field -- for t...
taliesin
I have been all men known to history,
Wondering at the world and at time passing;
I have s...[read poem]
Wondering at the world and at time passing;
I have s...
makanna's gathering
Wake! Amakósa, wake!
And arm yourselves for war.
As coming winds the forest sha...[read poem]
And arm yourselves for war.
As coming winds the forest sha...
thirteen blackbirds looking at a man
I
It is calm.
It is as though
we lived in a garden
that had not yet arrived...[read poem]
It is calm.
It is as though
we lived in a garden
that had not yet arrived...
the bechuana boy
I sat at noontide in my tent,
And looked across the Desert dun,
Beneath the cloudless ...[read poem]
And looked across the Desert dun,
Beneath the cloudless ...
the bushman
The Bushman sleeps within his black-browed den,
In the lone wilderness. Around him lie
His...[read poem]
In the lone wilderness. Around him lie
His...
to a young poet
For the first twenty years you are still growing
Bodily that is: as a poet, of course,
You...[read poem]
Bodily that is: as a poet, of course,
You...
the caffer commando
Hark! -- heard ye the signals of triumph afar?
'Tis our Caffer Commando returning from war:...[read poem]
'Tis our Caffer Commando returning from war:...
the coranna
Fast by his wild resounding River
The listless Coran lingers ever;
Still drives his heifer...[read poem]
The listless Coran lingers ever;
Still drives his heifer...
the caffer
Lo! where he crouches by the cleugh's dark side,
Eyeing the farmer's lowing herds afar;
Im...[read poem]
Eyeing the farmer's lowing herds afar;
Im...
the kosa
The free-born Kosa still doth hold
The fields his fathers held of old;
With club and spear...[read poem]
The fields his fathers held of old;
With club and spear...
poetry for supper
'Listen, now, verse should be as natural
As the small tuber that feeds on muck
And grows s...[read poem]
As the small tuber that feeds on muck
And grows s...
horace, lib. i, epist. ix, imitated
To the right honourable Mr. Harley
Dear Dick, how e'er it comes into his head,...[read poem]
Dear Dick, how e'er it comes into his head,...
song of the wild bushman
Let the proud White Man boast his flocks,
And fields of foodful grain;
My home is 'mid...[read poem]
And fields of foodful grain;
My home is 'mid...
the hottentot
Mild, melancholy, and sedate, he stands,
Tending another's flock upon the fields,
His fath...[read poem]
Tending another's flock upon the fields,
His fath...
the ancients of the world
The salmon lying in the depths of Llyn Llifon
Secretly as a thought in a dark mind,
Is...[read poem]
Secretly as a thought in a dark mind,
Is...
to sir walter scott
From deserts wild and many a pathless wood
Of savage climes where I have wandered long,
Wh...[read poem]
Of savage climes where I have wandered long,
Wh...
good
The old man comes out on the hill
and looks down to recall earlier days
in the valley. He ...[read poem]
and looks down to recall earlier days
in the valley. He ...
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