True ease in writing comes from art, not chance, <br />As those move easiest who have learned to dance. <br />'Tis not enough no harshness gives offense, <br />The sound must seem an echo to the sense: <br />Soft is the strain when Zephyr gently blows, <br />And the smooth stream in smoother numbers flows; <br />But when loud surges lash the sounding shore, <br />The hoarse, rough verse should like the torrent roar; <br />When Ajax strives some rock's vast weight to throw, <br />The line too labors, and the words move slow; <br />Not so, when swift Camilla scours the plain, <br />Flies o'er the unbending corn, and skims along the main. <br />Hear how Timotheus' varied lays surprise, <br />And bid alternate passions fall and rise!<br /><br />Alexander Pope<br /><br />http://www.poemhunter.com/poem/sound-and-sense/
