How could Parnassus rise in days of yore,
Ere thou had'st taught the clumsy rocks to soar?
How could the muses in their ambient bower,
In loftiest lays, anticipate thy power!
How could the sparkling Helicon flow free,
How durst it ripple, and not wait for thee?
No business had the Stagyrite to name
The rules of verse; old Homer was to blame,
For laying out too soon the Iliad's plan;
Homer was nothing but a "blind, old man!"