Dithyrambic on Wine | Godfrey Thomas

Godfrey’s The Court of Fancy (1762) was the first, and most pronounced, American use of Chaucerian work (in this case Geoffrey Chaucer’s The Parlement of Foules; circa 1378–1381) that broke free of traditional eighteenth-century verse. Included in Juvenile Poems on Various Subjects, it emphasized collegiality, which was a testament to Godfrey’s appreciation of the circle of artists he had befriended in Philadelphia. This theme is evident in his drinking song, “Dithyrambic on Wine”:

Come! Let Mirth our hours employ,
The jolly God inspires;
The rosy juice our bosom fires,
And tunes our souls to joy.

-Godfrey, Thomas (playwright)