That face which no man ever saw
And from his memory banished quite,
With eyes in which are Hamlet ’s awe
And Cardinal Richelieu’s subtle light
Looks from this frame. A master’s hand
Has set the master-player here,
In the fair temple that he planned
Not for himself. To us most dear
This image of him! “It was thus
He looked...
-
-
Was this his face, and these the finding eyes
That plucked a new world from the rolling seas?
Who, serving Christ, whom most he sought to please,
Willed his one thought until he saw arise
Man’s other home and earthly paradise—
His early vision, when with stalwart knees
He pushed the boat from his young olive-trees,
And sailed to wrest the... -
A Man more kindly, in his careless way,
Than many who profess a higher creed;
Whose fickle love might change from day to day,
And yet be faithful to a friend in need;
Whose manners covered, through life’s outs and ins,
Like charity, a multitude of sins.A man of honor, too, as such things go;
Discreet and secret—qualities of use—... -
“One name is Elizabeth.”
—BEN JONSON.I WILL paint her as I see her.
Ten times have the lilies blown
Since she looked upon the sun.And her face is lily-clear,
Lily-shaped, and dropped in duty
To the law of its own beauty.Oval cheeks encolored faintly,
Which a trail of golden hair
Keeps from... -
Midnight past! Not a sound of aught
Through the silent house, but the wind at his prayers.
I sat by the dying fire, and thought
Of the dear dead woman upstairs.A night of tears! for the gusty rain
...
Had ceased, but the eaves were dripping yet;
And the moon looked forth, as though in pain,
With her face all white and wet: -
This figure, 1 that thou here seest put,
It was for gentle Shakespeare cut;
Wherein the Graver had a strife
With Nature to outdo the life:
O, could he but have drawn his wit
As well in brass, as he hath hit
His face; the Print would then surpass
All that was ever writ in brass.
But since he cannot, Reader, look
Not at his... -
Prefixed to “Paradise Lost”
THREE Poets, in three distant ages born,
Greece, Italy, and England did adorn.
The first in loftiness of thought surpassed;
The next in majesty; in both the last.
The force of nature could no further go;
To make a third, she joined the former two. -
By B. R. Haydon
WORDSWORTH upon Helvellyn! Let the cloud
Ebb audibly along the mountain-wind,
Then break against the rock, and show behind
The lowland valleys floating up to crowd
The sense with beauty. He, with forehead bowed
And humble-lidded eyes, as one inclined
Before the sovran thought of his own mind,
And very meek with... -
A Pensive photograph
Watches me from the shelf—
Ghost of old love, and half
Ghost of myself!How the dear waiting eyes
Watch me and love me yet—
Sad home of memories,
Her waiting eyes!Ghost of old love, wronged ghost,
Return: though all the pain
Of all once loved, long lost,
Come back again... -
Give place, ye ladies, and begone,
Boast not yourselves at all:
For here at hand approacheth one
Whose face will stain you all.The virtue of her lively looks
Excels the precious stone:
I wish to have none other books
To read or look upon.In each of her two crystal eyes
Smileth a naked boy:
It would you all in...