LYRE, N. An Ancient Instrument Of Torture. The Word Is Now Used In A Figurative Sense To Denote The Poetic Faculty, As In The Following Fiery Lines Of Our Great Poet, Ella Wheeler Wilcox

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LYRE, n. An ancient instrument of torture. The word is now used in a
figurative sense to denote the poetic faculty, as in the following
fiery lines of our great poet, Ella Wheeler Wilcox:

I sit astride Parnassus with my lyre,
And pick with care the disobedient wire.
That stupid shepherd lolling on his crook
With deaf attention scarcely deigns to look.
I bide my time, and it shall come at length,
When, with a Titan's energy and strength,
I'll grab a fistful of the strings, and O,
The word shall suffer when I let them go!
Farquharson Harris
-- Ambrose Bierce, "The Devil's Dictionary"

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