...years": 71 Alas! What boots it with uncessant care, To tend the homely slighted Shepherd's trade. And to strictly meditate the thankless Muse? Were it not...in the shade, Or with the tangles of Neaera's hair? (11. 64-69) The rest of the poem's speakers will attempt, in one way or the other, to answer this question,...

...the thankless Muse?" In lines that must strike a responsive chord in every writer's breast, he asks, "Were it not better done as others use, / To sport...the shade, / Or with the tangles of Neaera's hair?" His answer, not terribly convincing to most of us nowadays, is ultimately religious: "Fame is the spur,"...

...care To tend the homely, slighted shepherd's trade And strictly meditate she thankless muse? Were is not better done, as others use, To sport with Amaryllis...in the shade, Or with the tangles of Neaera's hair? (64—69) These lines muss be read in their context. The sudden death of Lycidas ‘crc his prime'...

...all; but it was with an effort that she brought herself to believe it. It may be all very pleasant 'to sport with Amaryllis in the shade, or with the tangles of Neaera's hair,' 3 but young men at the outset of their independent life have many other cares in this prosaic England...

...Milton's own vocational doubts as to why, indeed, one should live laborious days: Were it not better don as others use, To sport with Amaryllis in the shade, Or with the tangles of Neaera's hair. (Memoirs, 1:469—70). After his death Brand Hollis continued his adoptive father's mission to America;...

...shore. Alas! What boots it widi uncessant care To tend the homely slighted shepherd's trade, And stricdy meditate the thankless Muse? Were it not better done...others use, To sport with Amaryllis in the shade, Hid with the tangles of Neaera's hair? (That last infirmity of noble mind) To scorn delights and live...

...the homely slighted Shepherds trade, And strictly meditate the thankless Muse? Were it not better don as others use, To sport with Amaryllis in the shade, Or with the tangles of Neaera's hair? [64-69] The sense of release in these lines is almost as powerful as their simultaneous sense of angry...

...(op. cit.,p. 64). The poet's fascination with coma is remarkable, and finds a parallel in Milton's "Were it not better done, as others use, / To sport with Amaryllis in the shade, / Or with(e) the tangles of Neaeia's hair?" (Lycidas, 67-69). Tibullus enters a less controlled world than...

...7528 ‘Lycidas' Alas! What boots It with uncessant care To tend the homely slighted shepherd's trade, And strictly meditate the thankless muse; Were it not better done as others use, lb sport withAmaryllis in the shade, Or with the tangles of Neaera's hair? 7529 ‘Lycidas' Fame is...

...inescapable: Alas! What boots it with uncessant care To tend the homely slighted shepherd's trade, And strictly meditate the thankless muse? Were it...in the shade, Or with the tangles of Neaera's hair? (64-9) The sense of release in these lines is almost as powerful as the sense of angry bafflement they...