“And force them, though it was in spite
Of Nature and their stars, to write.”

— Samuel Butler (poet)

Canto I, line 647
Source: Hudibras, Part I (1663–1664)

Adopted from Wikiquote. Last update June 3, 2021. History

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Samuel Butler (poet) 81

poet and satirist 1612–1680

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“For though the poet's matter nature be,
His art doth give the fashion. And that he
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Source: To the Memory of My Beloved, the Author, Mr. William Shakespeare (1618), Lines 55 - 70
Context: Yet must I not give nature all: thy art,
My gentle Shakspeare, must enjoy a part.
For though the poet's matter nature be,
His art doth give the fashion. And that he
Who casts to write a living line, must sweat,
(Such as thine arc) and strike the second heat
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And himself with it, that he thinks to frame;
Or for the laurel, he may gain a scorn,
For a good poet's made, as well as born.
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Lives in his issue, even so the race
Of Shakspeare's mind and manners brightly shines
In his well-turned, and true filed lines:
In each of which he seems to shake a lance,
As brandish'd at the eyes of ignorance.