Of old, a man who died
Had, in his pride,
Woman and steed and slave
Heaped at his grave;
Given this sudden end
Their souls to send,
Still serving, witherward
Their lord had fared.
Grown wiser, we, to-day,
A happier way
Find for our love and grief
And death’s relief:
Flowers their fragrance strew...
From the Greek by Ambrose Phillips
BLEST as the immortal gods is he,
The youth who fondly sits by thee,
And hears and sees thee all the while
Softly speak, and sweetly smile.
’T was this deprived my soul of rest,
And raised such tumults in my breast:
For while I gazed, in transport tost,
My breath was gone, my voice was lost....
Sweet Day, so cool, so calm, so bright,
The bridall of the earth and skie;
The dew shall weep thy fall to-night;
For thou must die.
Sweet Rose, whose hue angrie and brave
Bids the rash gazer wipe his eye,
Thy root is ever in its grave,
And all must die.
Sweet Spring, full of sweet dayes and...
From “In Memoriam”: Introduction
STRONG Son of God, immortal Love,
Whom we, that have not seen thy face,
By faith, and faith alone, embrace,
Believing where we cannot prove;
Thine are these orbs of light and shade;
Thou madest Life in man and brute;
Thou madest Death; and lo, thy foot
Is on the skull which thou hast made...
From “Night Thoughts,” Night VI.
AS in a wheel, all sinks, to reascend:
Emblems of man, who passes, not expires.
With this minute distinction, emblems just,
Nature revolves, but man advances; both
Eternal, that a circle, this a line.
That gravitates, this soars. Th’ aspiring soul,
Ardent, and tremulous, like flame, ascends,
Zeal...
Two — were immortal twice —
The privilege of few —
Eternity — obtained — in Time —
Reversed Divinity —
That our ignoble Eyes
The quality conceive
Of Paradise superlative —
Through their Comparative.
