The Pergola of Composition
“There is also a setting of Horace’s Ode ‘Persicos odi puer
apparatus,’ for A.T.B.B. ‘written in school [Eton College] ,
February 22, 1865’ ”. ~ Emily Daymond, 77
As strange as ancient Persia might have seemed
To sixteen-year-old Parry (strange as odes
In Latin), only something must have gleamed
Out from the lines of Horace. (Verse explodes
In minds of boys.) Perhaps he liked restraint
While others loved extravagance and plush
Surroundings, purity without the taint
Of tastelessness, the classic, not the gush
Of decoration, overstatement or
Embroidered velvet—just harmonic lines
Of music twined together in a score,
And nothing of exotic sveldt designs.
..Tied grapes in green along the frame above
…..A poet—they provide enough to love.
| I hate Persian furnishments, boy, wreaths twined around the lime-trees displease. Cease from seeking the places where the late rose fades.Add nothing to the simple myrtle, I beg, though you are eager: it is not unsuitable for you, my servant, nor me, [as I sit] beneath the tied vines, drinking. |
Persicōs ōdī, puer, apparātūs, displicent nexae philyrā corōnae, mitte sectārī, rosa quō locōrum sēra morētur.Simplicī myrtō nihil adlabōrēs sēdulus, cūrō: neque tē ministrum dēdecet myrtus neque mē sub artā vīte bibentem. |
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