Happy who in his verse can gently steer From grave to light, from pleasant to severe.1
ATTRIBUTION:
The Art of Poetry. Canto i. Line 75.
Note 1. Heureux qui, dans ses vers, sait dune voix légère, Passer du grave au doux, du plaisant au sévère. Nicholas Boileau-Despreaux: LArt Poétique, chant 1er.
Formed by thy converse, happily to steer From grave to gay, from lively to severe. Alexander Pope: Essay on Man, epistle iv. line 379. [back]