On A Thief (From The Greek)

William Cowper 1731 (Berkhamsted) – 1800 (Dereham)



When Aulus, the nocturnal thief, made prize
Of Hermes, swift-wing'd envoy of the skies,
Hermes, Arcadia's king, the thief divine,
Who when an infant stole Apollo's kine,
And whom, as arbiter and overseer
Of our gymnastic sports, we planted here;
'Hermes,' he cried, 'you meet no new disaster
Ofttimes the pupil goes beyond the master.'

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Submitted on May 13, 2011

Modified on March 05, 2023

18 sec read
33

Quick analysis:

Scheme AABBCDCC
Closest metre Iambic hexameter
Characters 337
Words 59
Stanzas 1
Stanza Lengths 8

William Cowper

William Macquarie Cowper was an Australian Anglican archdeacon and Dean of Sydney. more…

All William Cowper poems | William Cowper Books

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    "On A Thief (From The Greek)" Poetry.com. STANDS4 LLC, 2024. Web. 28 Mar. 2024. <https://www.poetry.com/poem/40020/on-a-thief-(from-the-greek)>.

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