GOddess of ease, leave Lethe's brink,

2 Obsequious to the Muse and me;

3 For once endure the pain to think,
4 Oh! sweet insensibility!
5 Sister of peace and indolence,
6 Bring, Muse, bring numbers soft and slow,
7 Elaborately void of sense,
8 And sweetly thoughtless let them flow.
9 Near some cowslip-painted mead,
10 There let me doze out the dull hours,
11 And under me let Flora spread,
12 A sofa of her softest flow'rs.
13 Where, Philomel, your notes you breathe
14 Forth from behind the neighbouring pine,
15 And murmurs of the stream beneath
16 Still flow in unison with thine.
17 For thee, O Idleness, the woes
18 Of life we patiently endure,
19 Thou art the source whence labour flows,
20 We shun thee but to make thee sure.
21 For who'd sustain war's toil and waste,
22 Or who th' hoarse thund'ring of the sea,
23 But to be idle at the last,
24 And find a pleasing end in thee.

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About this text

Title (in Source Edition): IDLENESS. ODE VII.
Author: Christopher Smart
Themes: [add]
Genres: ode [add]

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Poetic form
Metrical notation: Symbols:

 a ˘ ′| ˘ ′| ˘ ′| ˘ ′/
 b ˘ ′| ˘ ′| ˘ ′| ˘ ′/
 a ˘ ′| ˘ ′| ˘ ′| ˘ ′/
 ˘ metrically non-prominent
 ′ metrically prominent (primary)
 ` metrically prominent (secondary)
 | metrical foot boundary
 / metrical line boundary
  b ˘ ′| ˘ ′| ˘ ′| ˘ ′/

Metrical foot type: iambic (˘′)

Metrical foot number: tetrameter (4 feet)  || caesura
Stanza: quatrain (4 lines)
Syllable pattern: 8/8/8/8
Rhyme scheme: abab
Rhyme (stanza position): cross (abab)

Source edition
Smart, Christopher, 1722-1771. Poems on several occasions: By Christopher Smart,
A. M. Fellow of Pembroke-Hall, Cambridge. London: printed for the author, by W.
Strahan; and sold by J. Newbery, at the Bible and Sun, in St. Paul’s Church-Yard,
MDCCLII., 1752, pp. 19-20. [16],230p.,plates; 4⁰. (ESTC T42626; OTA
K041581.000)

Editorial principles
The text has been typographically modernized, but without any silent modernization
of spelling, capitalization, or punctuation. The source of the text is given and all
editorial interventions have been recorded in textual notes. Based on the electronic
text originally produced by the ECCO-TCP project, this ECPA text has been edited to
conform to the recommendations found in Level 5 of the Best Practices for TEI in
Libraries version 3.0.

Other works by Christopher Smart

 Against ILL-NATURE. (); ODE AGAINST ILL-NATURE. ()
 APOLLO and DAPHNE. An EPIGRAM. ()
 The BAG-WIG and the TOBACCO-PIPE. A FABLE. ()
 CARE and GENEROSITY. A FABLE. ()
 The DECISION. BALLAD III. ()
 The DISTRESSED DAMSEL. BALLAD VII. ()
 EPITHALAMIUM. ODE XI. ()
 The FAIR RECLUSE. BALLAD VIII. ()
 The FORCE of INNOCENCE. To Miss C—. BALLAD VI. ()
 THE HOP-GARDEN. A GEORGIC. In Two BOOKS. ()
 THE JUDGMENT OF MIDAS. A MASQUE. ()
 The LASS with the golden Locks. BALLAD II. ()
 A MORNING PIECE, OR, AN HYMN for the HAY-MAKERS. ODE I. ()
 A NIGHT-PIECE; OR, MODERN PHILOSOPHY. ODE III. ()
 A NOON-PIECE; OR, The MOWERS at Dinner. ODE II. ()
 AN OCCASIONAL PROLOGUE and EPILOGUE TO OTHELLO, ()
 ODE ON ST. CECILIA's DAY. ()
 ODE IX. The Author apologizes to a Lady, for his being a little man. ()
 On an EAGLE confined in a College-Court. ODE XIII. ()
 On GOOD-NATURE. ()
 On Miss * * * *. ODE X. ()
 ON THE ETERNITY OF THE SUPREME BEING. ()
 On the Fifth of December, being the Birth-day of a beautiful young Lady.
ODE V. ()
 ON THE GOODNESS OF THE SUPREME BEING. ()
 ON THE IMMENSITY OF THE SUPREME BEING. ()
 ON THE OMNISCIENCE OF THE SUPREME BEING. ()
 ON THE POWER OF THE SUPREME BEING. ()
 On the sudden Death of a CLERGYMAN. ODE IV. ()
 The PHYSICIAN and the MONKEY. An EPIGRAM. ()
 The PRETTY CHAMBERMAID: In Imitation of Ne sit Ancillae tibi amor
pudori, &c. of Horace. ODE VI. ()
 The SILENT FAIR. BALLAD V. ()
 [A SONG to DAVID.] ()
 SWEET WILLIAM. BALLAD I. ()
 The TALKATIVE FAIR. BALLAD IV. ()
 To ETHELINDA, On her doing my Verses the honour of wearing them in her
bosom. Written at Thirteen. ()
 To Miss — one of the Chichester Graces. BALLAD IX. ()
 To the reverend and learned Dr. WEBSTER, Occasioned by his Dialogues on
ANGER and FORGIVENESS. ODE VIII. ()