A poem by Aeschylus (c. 525 – c. 456 Before Christ )
The night was passing, and the Grecian host
By no means sought to issue forth unseen.
But when indeed the day with her white steeds
Held all the earth, resplendent to behold,
First from the Greeks the loud-resounding din
Of song triumphant came; and shrill at once
Echo responded from the island rock.
Then upon all barbarians terror fell,
Thus disappointed; for not as for flight
The Hellenes sang the holy pæan then,
But setting forth to battle valiantly.
The bugle with its note inflamed them all;
And straightway with the dip of plashing oars
They smote the deep sea water at command,
And quickly all were plainly to be seen.
Their right wing first in orderly array
Led on, and second all the armament
Followed them forth; and meanwhile there was heard
A mighty shout: “Come, O ye sons of Greeks,
Make free your country, make your children free,
Your wives, and fanes of your ancestral gods,
And your sires’ tombs! For all we now contend!”
And from our side the rush of Persian speech
Replied. No longer might the crisis wait.
At once ship smote on ship with brazen beak;
A vessel of the Greeks began the attack,
Crushing the stem of a Phoenician ship.
Each on a different vessel turned its prow.
At first the current of the Persian host
Withstood; but when within the strait the throng
Of ships was gathered, and they could not aid
Each other, but by their own brazen bows
Were struck, they shattered all our naval host.
The Grecian vessels not unskillfully
Were smiting round about; the hulls of ships
Were overset; the sea was hid from sight,
Covered with wreckage and the death of men;
The reefs and headlands were with corpses filled,
And in disordered flight each ship was rowed,
As many as were of the Persian host.
But they, like tunnies or some shoal of fish,
With broken oars and fragments of the wrecks
Struck us and clove us; and at once a cry
Of lamentation filled the briny sea,
Till the black darkness’ eye did rescue us.
The number of our griefs, not though ten days
I talked together, could I fully tell;
But this know well, that never in one day
Perished so great a multitude of men.
A few random poems:
- Владимир Степанов – Шарик (Буква Ш)
- Robert Burns: Twas Na Her Bonie Blue E’e:
- Not marble nor the guilded monuments (Sonnet 55) by William Shakespeare
- Fleckno, an English Priest at Rome poem – Andrew Marvell poems
- The Second Coming by William Butler Yeats
- Eclogue VIII by Virgil
- Омар Хайям – Кто розу нежную любви привил
- Better Not Ask Me by Shel Silverstein
- His Loss by Robert Herrick
- The Recruit poem – A. E. Housman
- Николай Карамзин – Пророчество на 1799 год, найденное в бумагах Нострадамуса
- Wisteria by Philip Levine
- Федор Сологуб – Певице
- Nor We Of Her To Him by Stevie Smith
- Василий Казин – Ожидание
External links
Bat’s Poetry Page – more poetry by Fledermaus
Talking Writing Monster’s Page –
Batty Writing – the bat’s idle chatter, thoughts, ideas and observations, all original, all fresh
Poems in English
- The Ever-Patient Woman poem – Andree Chedid poems | Poems and Poetry
- Sun Light poem – Ammar Hussain poems | Poems and Poetry
- Sacred Epiphany poem – Ammar Nadeem poems | Poems and Poetry
- Prize poem – Amanda James DIll poems | Poems and Poetry
- Poems from Makiwane poem – Amitabh Mitra poems | Poems and Poetry
- Landscapes poem – Andree Chedid poems | Poems and Poetry
- Peace of Mind poem – Amit Shankar Saha poems | Poems and Poetry
- Oh Mother poem – Amy Haritha Suseel poems | Poems and Poetry
- Ode poem – Amr ibn Kulthum poems | Poems and Poetry
- Nocturno poem – Ana Chig poems | Poems and Poetry
- Nigra Sum poem – Andrea “Vocab” Sanderson poems | Poems and Poetry
- My Mask poem – Amy Haritha Suseel poems | Poems and Poetry
- Mujer Libanesa I poem – Amir Ibn Tawfik poems | Poems and Poetry
- Mother Ocean poem – Amy E. Johnsen poems | Poems and Poetry
- Milagros Retenidos poem – Ana Chig poems | Poems and Poetry
- Midnight poem – Amy Michelle Mosier poems | Poems and Poetry
- Love is Immortal poem – Amy Haritha Suseel poems | Poems and Poetry
- Landscapes poem – Andree Chedid poems | Poems and Poetry
- Ka ‘Ba poem – Amiri Baraka poems | Poems and Poetry
- In an Effort to Translate Solitude poem – Andrea “Vocab” Sanderson poems | Poems and Poetry
More external links (open in a new tab):
Doska or the Board – write anything
Search engines:
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Duckduckgo – the real alternative and a search engine that actually works. Without much censorship or partisan politics.
Yahoo– yes, it’s still around, amazingly, miraculously, incredibly, but now it seems to be powered by Bing.
Parallel Translations of Poetry
The Poetry Repository – an online library of poems, poetry, verse and poetic works
Aeschylus (525 Before Christ to 456 B.C.) was an ancient Greek author of Greek tragedy, and is often described as the father of tragedy. Academics’ knowledge of the genre begins with his work, and understanding of earlier Greek tragedy is largely based on inferences made from reading his surviving plays. According to Aristotle, he expanded the number of characters in the theatre and allowed conflict among them.