She dwelt among the untrodden ways
Beside the springs of Dove,
A maid whom there were none read more

She dwelt among the untrodden ways
Beside the springs of Dove,
A maid whom there were none to praise
And very few to love.

How happy is the blameless vestal's lot!
The world forgetting, by the world forgot.

How happy is the blameless vestal's lot!
The world forgetting, by the world forgot.

Yet was he but a squire of low degree.

Yet was he but a squire of low degree.

I give the fight up; let there be an end,
A privacy, an obscure nook for me,
read more

I give the fight up; let there be an end,
A privacy, an obscure nook for me,
I want to be forgotten even by God.

Everybody is so talented nowadays that the only people I care to honour as deserving real distinction are those who read more

Everybody is so talented nowadays that the only people I care to honour as deserving real distinction are those who remain in obscurity.

Thus let me live, unseen, unknown,
Thus unlamented let me die;
Steal from the world, and not read more

Thus let me live, unseen, unknown,
Thus unlamented let me die;
Steal from the world, and not a stone
Tell where I lie.

Yet still he fills affection's eye,
Obscurely wise, and coarsely kind.

Yet still he fills affection's eye,
Obscurely wise, and coarsely kind.

Content thyself to be obscurely good.
When vice prevails and impious men bear away,
The post of read more

Content thyself to be obscurely good.
When vice prevails and impious men bear away,
The post of honor is a private station.

Full many a flower is born to blush unseen,
And waste its sweetness on the desert air.

Full many a flower is born to blush unseen,
And waste its sweetness on the desert air.