Skip to content
Linespedia

Epilogue To The Indian Queen.

By John Dryden

Topics: classic

SPOKEN BY MONTEZUMA.         You see what shifts we are enforced to try,         To help out wit with some variety;         Shows may be found that never yet were seen,         'Tis hard to find such wit as ne'er has been:         You have seen all that this old world can do,         We therefore try the fortune of the new,         And hope it is below your aim to hit         At untaught nature with your practised wit:         Our naked Indians, then, when wits appear,         Would as soon choose to have the Spaniards here.         'Tis true, you have marks enough, the plot, the show,         The poet's scenes, nay, more, the painter's too;         If all this fail, considering the cost,         'Tis a true voyage to the Indies lost:         But if you smile on all, then these designs,         Like the imperfect treasure of our minds,         Will pass for current wheresoe'er they go,         When to your bounteous hands their stamps they owe.

AI analysis available. Enable JavaScript to interact.

About this line

"SPOKEN BY MONTEZUMA...."

John Dryden's contribution to classic is further solidified by the brilliance found in "Epilogue To The Indian Queen."... ### Why We Love This Line At Linespedia, we believe that poetry is the ultimate sanctuary for the soul...

Attribution & Rights

Author:John Dryden

"SPOKEN BY MONTEZUMA...." by John Dryden

For usage rights, copyright concerns, or to report an issue with this content, please visit our Copyright & Report page.

Related lines

"POETS, like lawful monarchs, ruled the stage, Till critics, like damn'd Whigs, debauch'd our age. Mark how they jump: critics would regulate Our theat"

"'Tis hard, my friend, to write in such an age, As damns, not only poets, but the stage. That sacred art, by Heaven itself infused, Which Moses, David,"

"A Pastoral Elegy.         'Twas on a joyless and a gloomy morn,         Wet was the grass, and hung with pearls the thorn;         When Damon, wh"

"On His Learned And Useful Works; But More Particularly His Treatise Of Stonehenge,[1] By Him Restored To The True Founder.         The longest tyra"

"Here morning in the ploughman's songs is met     Ere yet one footstep shows in all the sky,     And twilight in the east, a doubt as yet,     S"

"The Text is taken from Percy's Reliques (1765), vol. i. p. 71, 'given from two MS. copies, transmitted from Scotland.' Herd had a very similar bal"

John Dryden

About John Dryden

John Dryden (1631–1700) was an English poet, critic, and playwright who served as the first Poet Laureate. His works—including "Absalom and Achitophel," "Mac Flecknoe," and "Alexander's Feast"—established the heroic couplet as the dominant verse form of the Restoration.

Full Bibliography
Continue Reading

"POETS, like lawful monarchs, ruled the stage, Till..."

Weekly Poetic Insight

Join our literary Sanctuary

Get the most inspiring lines, poetic analysis, and secret shayaris delivered to your inbox every Sunday.