An Ode

By Matthew Prior 1664–1721 Matthew Prior

The merchant, to secure his treasure,

Conveys it in a borrowed name;

Euphelia serves to grace my measure,

But Cloe is my real flame.

My softest verse, my darling lyre,

Upon Euphelia’s toilet lay;

When Cloe noted her desire

That I should sing, that I should play.

My lyre I tune, my voice I raise,

But with my numbers mix my sighs;

And whilst I sing Euphelia’s praise,

I fix my soul on Cloe’s eyes.

Fair Cloe blushed; Euphelia frowned;

I sung and gazed; I played and trembled;

And Venus to the Loves around

Remarked how ill we all dissembled.

Biography

Matthew Prior was the most important poet writing in England between the death of John Dryden (1700) and the poetic maturity of Alexander Pope (about 1712). A significant influence on British and German poetry throughout the eighteenth century, Prior had an effect on several different forms: long philosophical poems either serious or half-mocking, Horatian imitations, psychologically realistic tales, and polished, metrical songs . . .

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