From “Paradise Lost,” Book VIII.
MINE eyes he closed, but open left the cell
Of fancy, my internal sight, by which
Abstract, as in a trance, methought I saw,
Though sleeping, where I lay, and saw the shape
Still glorious before whom awake I stood;
Who, stooping, opened my left side, and took
From thence a rib, with cordial spirits warm,...
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From “Paradise Lost,” Book IX.
O FAIREST of creation, last and best
Of all God’s works, creature in whom excelled
Whatever can to sight or thought be formed,
Holy, divine, good, amiable, or sweet!
How art thou lost, how on a sudden lost,
Defaced, deflowered, and now to death devote!
Rather, how hast thou yielded to transgress
The... -
From the French of W. F. Nokes
From “Polyeucte”
SEVERUS— I stand agaze,
Rooted, confounded, in sheer wonderment.
Such blind resolve is so unparalleled,
I scarce may trust the witness of mine ears.
A heart that loves you—and what heart so poor
That knowing, loves you not?—one loved of you,
To leave regretless so much... -
From “a Ballad upon a Wedding”
* * * * *THE MAID, and thereby hangs a tale,
For such a maid no Whitsun-ale
Could ever yet produce:
No grape that ’s kindly ripe could be
So round, so plump, so soft as she,
Nor half so full of juice.Her finger was so small, the ring
Would not stay on which they... -
From the “Examen Miscellaneum,” 1708
THE FIRE of love in youthful blood,
Like what is kindled in brushwood,
But for a moment burns;
Yet in that moment makes a mighty noise;
It crackles, and to vapor turns,
And soon itself destroys.But when crept into agèd veins
It slowly burns, and then long remains,
... -
Tell me not, sweet, I am unkinde,
That from the nunnerie
Of thy chaste breast and quiet minde,
To warre and armes I flee.True, a new mistresse now I chase.—
The first foe in the field;
And with a stronger faith imbrace
A sword, a horse, a shield.Yet this inconstancy is such
As you, too, shall adore;... -
IF to be absent were to be
Away from thee;
Or that, when I am gone,
You or I were alone;
Then, my Lucasta, might I crave
Pity from blustering wind or swallowing wave.But I ’ll not sigh one blast or gale
To swell my sail,
Or pay a tear to ’suage
The foaming blue-god’s rage;
For... -
False world, thou ly’st: thou canst not lend
The least delight:
Thy favors cannot gain a friend,
They are so slight:
Thy morning pleasures make an end
To please at night:
Poor are the wants that thou supply’st,
And yet thou vaunt’st, and yet thou vy’st
With heaven: fond earth, thou boasts; false world... -
From “Samson Agonistes”
O LOSS of sight, of thee I must complain!
Blind among enemies, O, worse than chains,
Dungeon, or beggary, or decrepit age!
Light, the prime work of God, to me is extinct,
And all her various objects of delight
Annulled, which might in part my grief have eased.
Inferior to the vilest now become
Of man or worm... -
From the German by Catherine Winkworth
LET nothing make thee sad or fretful,
Or too regretful;
Be still;
What God hath ordered must be right;
Then find in it thine own delight,
My will.Why shouldst thou fill to-day with sorrow
About to-morrow,
My heart?
One watches...