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- Herausgeber: Strelbytskyy Multimedia Publishing
- Kategorie: Religion und Spiritualität
- Sprache: Englisch
- Veröffentlichungsjahr: 2021
While his contemporaries considered Blake a madman, we now appreciate him as an important figure in the development of romantic and mystical poetry. Blake's poetry is unique from every angle: It possesses a philosophical depth that impacts the reader at a spiritual level. Blake created his own mythological world, which he outlined in his prophetic books. His complex world is inhabited by deities and heroes to whom he gave unusual names: Urizen, Luva, Tarmas, Urton, Los, Enitarmon, Aania, etc. The inspiration for Blake's mythology has many origins, including the Bible, Greek and Roman mythology, Scandinavian Eddas, and treatises by occultists and religious mystics. Contents: Poetical Sketches An Island In The Moon All Religions Are One There Is No Natural Religion Tiriel Songs Of Innocence The Book Of Thel The Marriage Of Heaven And Hell The French Revolution Visions Of The Daughters Of Albion America A Prophecy Europe A Prophecy The First Book Of Urizen Songs Of Experience The Book Of Los The Song Of Los The Book Of Ahania The Four Zoas Milton A Poem Jerusalem: The Emanation Of The Giant Albion Songs And Ballads From Blake's Notebook (1793) Satiric Verses And Epigrams From Blake's Notebook Uncollected Works
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COMPLETE WORKS OF WILLIAM BLAKE:
Songs of Innocence and of Experience, The Marriage of Heaven and Hell, The Four Zoas, Jerusalem, Milton and others
Illustrated
While his contemporaries considered Blake a madman, we now appreciate him as an important figure in the development of romantic and mystical poetry.
Blake's poetry is unique from every angle: It possesses a philosophical depth that impacts the reader at a spiritual level.
Blake created his own mythological world, which he outlined in his prophetic books. His complex world is inhabited by deities and heroes to whom he gave unusual names: Urizen, Luva, Tarmas, Urton, Los, Enitarmon, Aania, etc. The inspiration for Blake's mythology has many origins, including the Bible, Greek and Roman mythology, Scandinavian Eddas, and treatises by occultists and religious mystics.
POETICAL SKETCHES
AN ISLAND IN THE MOON
ALL RELIGIONS ARE ONE
THERE IS NO NATURAL RELIGION
TIRIEL
SONGS OF INNOCENCE
THE BOOK OF THEL
THE MARRIAGE OF HEAVEN AND HELL
THE FRENCH REVOLUTION
VISIONS OF THE DAUGHTERS OF ALBION
AMERICA A PROPHECY
EUROPE A PROPHECY
THE FIRST BOOK OF URIZEN
SONGS OF EXPERIENCE
THE BOOK OF LOS
THE SONG OF LOS
THE BOOK OF AHANIA
THE FOUR ZOAS
MILTON A POEM
JERUSALEM: THE EMANATION OF THE GIANT ALBION
SONGS AND BALLADS FROM BLAKE’S NOTEBOOK (1793)
SATIRIC VERSES AND EPIGRAMS FROM BLAKE’S NOTEBOOK
UNCOLLECTED WORKS
POETICAL SKETCHES
PREFACE.
THE period between 1768 and 1783 may be described as one of utter stagnation in poetry — the low-water mark of the eighteenth century, in no part of it very fruitful in verse of a high order. With Mason, Hayley, and Darwin installed as the high priests of the Muses, and a host of satellites of the Charlotte Smith and Jerningham order, pouring forth volumes of mediocre verses, tolerable now neither to gods nor men nor columns — feeble echoes of a school which, at its best, drew but little of its inspiration from Nature, how welcome to the ear are the fresh notes of William Blake, recalling here the grand Elizabethan melodies, anticipating now the pathos and simplicity of Wordsworth, now the subtlety and daring of Shelley.
The “Poetical Sketches,” though not printed till 1783, a year after Cowper’s first volume made its appearance, were written, it appears, between 1768 and 1777 — the earliest in the author’s twelfth and the latest in his twentieth year. They lay in manuscript for six years, before, by the good offices of Flaxman and other friends, they could get into print. The little volume, which extended to only seventy pages, cannot, indeed, be said to have been published. The whole impression seems to have fallen into the hands of Blake’s personal friends: certain it is that it attracted no notice whatever from the critics. The book has now become so scarce that no copy is to be found even in the British Museum; and as Mr. Rossetti has confined himself to a few selections, we have thought that a faithful reprint of the whole from a copy that has luckily fallen into our hands, might be an acceptable present to the numerous body of readers now awakening gradually to a sense of the rare merit and originality of the artist-poet, and form a fitting companion volume to the “Songs of Innocence and Experience.”
Before closing the bibliographical portion of our remarks, we must say a final word respecting the principle adopted by Mr. Rossetti in his reprint of some of these poems in the second volume of Gilchrist’s “Life of Blake.” Once for all, while rendering due homage to his genius and rare critical perception, as well as to the great services he has rendered to the fame of Blake, we must firmly protest against the dangerous precedent he has established of tampering with his author’s text. Much ruggedness of metre and crudeness of expression he has doubtless removed or toned down by this process : but, however delicately and tastefully done, we contend that the doing of it was unwarrantable — nay, that it destroys to a certain extent the historical value of the poems. It was the growth of this mischievous system which prevented the readers of the eighteenth century from enjoying a pure text of Shakespeare ; which to this day, in nine editions out of ten, gives us a corrupt and mutilated text of such writers as Bunyan, Walton, and De Foe, and which has spoilt some of the finest hymns in our language. For where is the process, once admitted as legitimate, to stop? It is not every emendator who possesses the taste and judgment of Mr. Rossetti, and, in a case like the present one, where the original edition is almost inaccessible as a check, what protection has the reader against the caprice or vanity of an editor who does not adhere religiously to his author’s text? Mr. Rossetti (though sanctioned by Mr. Swinburne) has no more right to alter William Blake’s poems than Mr. Millais would have to paint out some obnoxious detail of medievalism in a work of Giotto or Cimabue; or Mr. Leighton to improve some flaw in the flesh-colour of Correggio. The duty of an editor, in such a case as that of Blake’s “Poetical Sketches,” is confined to the silent correction of obvious clerical errors, and to the rectification of faulty orthography or punctuation, due either to the lax and uncertain spelling of the time, or to the ignorance and carelessness of the printer.
Having spoken this word in season, we pass on to the pleasanter duty of examining these poems separately.
Of the opening poems addressed to the four Seasons, we may say that the first three, though marred here and there by irregularities of metre, have a wealth of imagery and felicity of expression worthy of some of the finest things in Keats and Shelley and Tennyson. There are lines too in them which stand out rememberable for ever, and haunt the ear with their melody. The “Winter,” though it opens vigorously, soon falls into the pseudo-Ossianic grandiloquence, of which there is also a taint in several other pieces, and the last three lines, stumbling and staggering, remind us irresistibly of the same incongruous blending of sublime and ludicrous images (going on halting feet) in Turner’s unfortunate “Fallacies of Hope.”
The lines to the “Evening Star” are almost Tennysonian in happily-chosen epithet and perfect cadence of music:
“Smile on our loves; and while thou drawest the
“Blue curtains of the sky, scatter thy silver dew
“On every flower that shuts its sweet eyes
“In timely sleep. Let thy west wind sleep on
“The lake; speak silence with thy glimmering eyes,
“And wash the dusk with silver.”
“Fair Eleanor” — a sort of blank-verse ballad of the Radcliffe type of crime and mystery and horror — is a somewhat abortive attempt, much in the style of some of Shelley’s early poetry of the St. Irvyne and Margaret Nicholson period — not without lines of singular beauty that stand out in relief to the dulness and insipidity of the rest.
But what fitting tribute can we pay to the marvellous beauty of the six lyrics which follow, and of the lines “To the Muses?” We must go back to apology for the less happy efforts of a poet who in his best things has hardly fallen short of the large utterance of the Elizabethan dramatists, the pastoral simplicity of Wordsworth, the subtlety and fire of Shelley, and the lyrical tenderness of Tennyson.
ADVERTISEMENT.
THE following Sketches were the production of untutored youth, commenced in his twelfth, and occasionally resumed by the author till his twentieth year; since which time, his talents having been wholly directed to the attainment of excellence in his profession, he has been deprived of the leisure requisite to such a revisal of these sheets, as might have rendered them less unfit to meet the public eye.
Conscious of the irregularities and defects to be found in almost every page, his friends have still believed that they possessed a poetical originality, which merited some respite from oblivion. These their opinions remain, however, to be now reproved or confirmed by a less partial public.
TO SPRING.
O THOU with dewy locks, who lookest
down
Thro’ the clear windows of the morning,
turn
Thine angel eyes upon our western isle,
Which in full choir hails thy approach, O Spring!
The hills tell each other, and the listening
Valleys hear; all our longing eyes are turn’d
Up to thy bright pavilions: issue forth,
And let thy holy feet visit our clime.
Come o’er the eastern hills, and let our winds
Kiss thy perfumed garments; let us taste
Thy morn and evening breath; scatter thy pearls
Upon our lovesick land that mourns for thee.
O deck her forth with thy fair fingers; pour
Thy soft kisses on her bosom; and put
Thy golden crown upon her languish’d head,
Whose modest tresses were bound up for thee!
TO SUMMER.
O THOU who passest thro’ our valleys in
Thy strength, curb thy fierce steeds, allay the heat
That flames from their large nostrils! thou, O Summer,
Oft pitchedst here thy golden tent, and oft
Beneath our oaks hast slept, while we beheld
With joy, thy ruddy limbs and flourishing hair.
Beneath our thickest shades we oft have heard
Thy voice, when noon upon his fervid car
Rode o’er the deep of heaven: beside our springs
Sit down, and in our mossy valleys, on
Some bank beside a river clear, throw thy
Silk draperies off, and rush into the stream:
Our valleys love the Summer in his pride.
Our bards are famed who strike the silver wire:
Our youth are bolder than the southern swains:
Our maidens fairer in the sprightly dance:
We lack not songs, nor instruments of joy,
Nor echoes sweet, nor waters clear as heaven,
Nor laurel wreaths against the sultry heat.
TO AUTUMN.
O AUTUMN, laden with fruit, and stain’d
With the blood of the grape, pass not, but sit
Beneath my shady roof, there thou mayst rest,
And tune thy jolly voice to my fresh pipe,
And all the daughters of the year shall dance!
Sing now the lusty song of fruits and flowers.
“The narrow bud opens her beauties to
“The sun, and love runs in her thrilling veins;
“Blossoms hang round the brows of morning, and
“Flourish down the bright cheek of modest eve,
“Till clustering Summer breaks forth into singing,
“And feather’d clouds strew flowers round her head.
“The spirits of the air live on the smells
“Of fruit; and joy, with pinions light, roves round
“The gardens, or sits singing in the trees.”
Thus sang the jolly Autumn as he sat;
Then rose, girded himself, and o’er the bleak
Hills fled from our sight; but left his golden load.
TO WINTER.
O WINTER! bar thine adamantine doors:
The north is thine; there hast thou built thy dark
Deep-founded habitation. Shake not thy roofs
Nor bend thy pillars with thine iron car.
He hears me not, but o’er the yawning deep
Rides heavy; his storms are unchain’d, sheathed
In ribbed steel; I dare not lift mine eyes;
For he hath rear’d his sceptre o’er the world.
Lo! now the direful monster, whose skin clings
To his strong bones, strides o’er the groaning rocks:
He withers all in silence, and in his hand
Unclothes the earth, and freezes up frail life.
He takes his seat upon the cliffs, the mariner
Cries in vain. Poor little wretch! that deal’st
With storms, till heaven smiles, and the monster
Is driven yelling to his caves beneath Mount Hecla.
TO THE EVENING STAR.
THOU fair-hair’d angel of the evening,
Now, whilst the sun rests on the mountains, light
Thy bright torch of love — thy radiant crown
Put on, and smile upon our evening bed!
Smile on our loves; and, while thou drawest the
Blue curtains of the sky, scatter thy silver dew
On every flower that shuts its sweet eyes
In timely sleep. Let thy west wind sleep on
The lake; speak silence with thy glimmering eyes,
And wash the dusk with silver. Soon, full soon,
Dost thou withdraw; then the wolf rages wide,
And the lion glares thro’ the dun forest:
The fleeces of our flocks are cover’d with
Thy sacred dew: protect them with thine influence.
TO MORNING.
O HOLY virgin! clad in purest white,
Unlock heaven’s golden gates and issue forth;
Awake the dawn that sleeps in heaven; let light
Rise from the chambers of the east, and bring
The honey’d dew that cometh on waking day.
O radiant morning, salute the sun,
Roused like a huntsman to the chase, and with
Thy buskin’d feet appear upon our hills.
FAIR ELEANOR.
THE bell struck one and shook the silent tower;
The graves give up their dead: fair Eleanor
Walk’d by the castle-gate, and looked in:
A hollow groan ran thro’ the dreary vaults.
She shriek’d aloud, and sunk upon the steps,
On the cold stone her pale cheek. Sickly smells
Of death, issue as from a sepulchre,
And all is silent but the sighing vaults.
Chill death withdraws his hand, and she revives;
Amazed she finds herself upon her feet,
And, like a ghost, thro’ narrow passages
Walking, feeling the cold walls with her hands.
Fancy returns, and now she thinks of bones
And grinning skulls, and corruptible death
Wrapt in his shroud; and now fancies she hears
Deep sighs, and sees pale sickly ghosts gliding.
At length, no fancy, but reality
Distracts her. A rushing sound, and the feet
Of one that fled, approaches. — Ellen stood,
Like a dumb statue, froze to stone with fear.
The wretch approaches, crying, “The deed is done;
“Take this, and send it by whom thou wilt send;
“It is my life — send it to Eleanor: —
“He’s dead, and howling after me for blood!
“Take this,” he cried; and thrust into her arms
A wet napkin, wrapt about; then rush’d
Past, howling: she received into her arms
Pale death, and follow’d on the wings of fear.
They pass’d swift thro’ the outer gate; the wretch,
Howling, leap’d o’er the wall into the moat,
Stifling in mud. Fair Ellen pass’d the bridge,
And heard a gloomy voice cry, “Is it done?”
As the deer wounded Ellen flew over
The pathless plain; as the arrows that fly
By night; destruction flies, and strikes in darkness.
She fled from fear, till at her house arrived.
Her maids await her; on her bed she falls,
That bed of joy where erst her lord hath press’d:
“ Ah, woman’s fear! “ she cried, “ Ah, cursed duke!
“ Ah, my dear lord! ah, wretched Eleanor!
“ My lord was like a flower upon the brows
“ Of lusty May! Ah, life as frail as flower!
“ O ghastly death! withdraw thy cruel hand,
“ Seek’st thou that flower to deck thy horrid temples?
“ My lord was like a star in highest heaven
“ Drawn down to earth by spells and wickedness;
“ My lord was like the opening eyes of day,
“ When western winds creep softly o’er the flowers.
“ But he is darken’d; like the summer’s noon
“ Clouded; fall’n like the stately tree, cut down;
“ The breath of heaven dwelt among his leaves.
“ O Eleanor, weak woman, fill’d with woe!”
Thus having spoke, she raised up her head,
And saw the bloody napkin by her side,
Which in her arms she brought; and how, tenfold
More terrified, saw it unfold itself.
Her eyes were fix’d; the bloody cloth unfolds,
Disclosing to her sight the murder’d head
Of her dear lord, all ghastly pale, clotted
With gory blood; it groan’d, and thus it spake:
“O Eleanor, behold thy husband’s head
“Who, sleeping on the stones of yonder tower,
“Was ‘reft of life by the accursed duke!
“A hired villain turn’d my sleep to death!
“O Eleanor, beware the cursed duke,
“O give not him thy hand, now I am dead;
“He seeks thy love; who, coward, in the night,
“Hired a villain to bereave my life.”
She sat with dead cold limbs, stiflen’d to stone;
She took the gory head up in her arms;
She kiss’d the pale lips; she had no tears to shed;
She hugg’d it to her breast, and groan’d her last.
SONG. HOW SWEET I ROAM’D FROM FIELD TO FIELD.
HOW sweet I roam’d from field to field
And tasted all the summer’s pride,
Till I the Prince of Love beheld
Who in the sunny beams did glide.
He shew’d me lilies for my hair,
And blushing roses for my brow;
He led me thro’ his gardens fair
Where all his golden pleasures grow.
With sweet May-dews my wings were wet,
And Phœbus fired my vocal rage;
He caught me in his silken net,
And shut me in his golden cage.
He loves to sit and hear me sing,
Then, laughing, sports and plays with me;
Then stretches out my golden wing
And mocks my loss of liberty.
SONG. MY SILKS AND FINE ARRAY.
MY silks and fine array,
My smiles and languish’d air
By love are driven away;
And mournful lean Despair
Brings me yew to deck my grave:
Such end true lovers have.
His face is fair as heaven
When springing buds unfold;
O why to him was’t given,
Whose heart is wintry cold?
His breast is love’s all-worshipp’d tomb,
Where all love’s pilgrims come.
Bring me an axe and spade,
Bring me a winding sheet;
When I my grave have made
Let winds and tempests beat:
Then down I’ll lie, as cold as clay.
True love doth pass away!
SONG. LOVE AND HARMONY COMBINE.
LOVE and harmony combine
And around our souls entwine,
While thy branches mix with mine
And our roots together join.
Joys upon our branches sit
Chirping loud and singing sweet;
Like gentle streams beneath our feet
Innocence and virtue meet.
Thou the golden fruit dost bear,
I am clad in flowers fair;
Thy sweet boughs perfume the air,
And the turtle buildeth there.
There she sits and feeds her young,
Sweet I hear her mournful song;
And thy lovely leaves among
There is love; I hear his tongue.
There his charming nest doth lay,
There he sleeps the night away;
There he sports along the day
And doth among our branches play.
SONG. I LOVE THE JOCUND DANCE.
I LOVE the jocund dance,
The softly-breathing song,
Where innocent eyes do glance
And where lisps the maiden’s tongue.
I love the laughing vale,
I love the echoing hill,
Where mirth does never fail,
And the jolly swain laughs his fill.
I love the pleasant cot,
I love the innocent bower,
Where white and brown is our lot
Or fruit in the mid-day hour.
I love the oaken seat,
Beneath the oaken tree,
Where all the old villagers meet,
And laugh our sports to see.
I love our neighbours all,
But, Kitty, I better love thee;
And love them I ever shall,
But thou art all to me.
SONG. MEMORY, HITHER COME.
MEMORY, hither come
And tune your merry notes:
And while upon the wind
Your music floats
I’ll pore upon the stream
Where sighing lovers dream,
And fish for fancies as they pass
Within the watery glass.
I’ll drink of the clear stream
And hear the linnet’s song,
And there I’ll lie and dream
The day along:
And, when night comes, I’ll go
To places fit for woe
Walking along the darken’d valley
With silent Melancholy.
MAD SONG. THE WILD WINDS WEEP.
THE wild winds weep,
And the night is a-cold;
Come hither, Sleep,
And my griefs enfold:
But lo! the morning peeps
Over the eastern steeps,
And the rustling beds of dawn
The earth do scorn.
Lo! to the vault
Of paved heaven,
With sorrow fraught
My notes are driven:
They strike the ear of night,
Make weep the eyes of day;
They make mad the roaring winds,
And with tempests play.
Like a fiend in a cloud
With howling woe,
After night I do crowd
And with night will go;
I turn my back to the east
From whence comforts have increased;
For light doth seize my brain
With frantic pain.
SONG. FRESH FROM THE DEWY HILL, THE MERRY YEAR.
FRESH from the dewy hill, the merry year
Smiles on my head and mounts his flaming car;
Round my young brows the laurel wreathes a shade
And rising glories beam around my head.
My feet are wing’d while o’er the dewy lawn
I meet my maiden risen like the morn.
Oh bless those holy feet, like angels’ feet;
Oh bless those limbs, beaming with heavenly light!
Like as an angel glittering in the sky
In times of innocence and holy joy;
The joyful shepherd stops his grateful song
To hear the music of an angel’s tongue.
So when she speaks, the voice of Heaven I hear;
So when we walk, nothing impure comes near;
Each field seems Eden, and each calm retreat;
Each village seems the haunt of holy feet.
But that sweet village, where my black-eyed maid
Closes her eyes in sleep beneath night’s shade,
Whene’er I enter, more than mortal fire
Burns in my soul, and does my song inspire.
SONG. WHEN EARLY MORN WALKS FORTH IN SOBER GRAY.
WHEN early morn walks forth in sober gray,
Then to my black-eyed maid I haste away,
When evening sits beneath her dusky bower
And gently sighs away the silent hour,
The village bell alarms, away I go,
And the vale darkens at my pensive woe.
To that sweet village, where my black-eyed maid
Doth drop a tear beneath the silent shade,
I turn my eyes; and pensive as I go
Curse my black stars, and bless my pleasing woe.
Oft when the summer sleeps among the trees,
Whispering faint murmurs to the scanty breeze,
I walk the village round; if at her side
A youth doth walk in stolen joy and pride,
I curse my stars in bitter grief and woe,
That made my love so high, and me so low.
O should she e’er prove false, his limbs I’d tear,
And throw all pity on the burning air;
I’d curse bright fortune for my mixed lot,
And then I’d die in peace, and be forgot.
TO THE MUSES.
WHETHER on Ida’s shady brow
Or in the chambers of the East,
The chambers of the Sun, that now
From ancient melody have ceased;
Whether in heaven ye wander fair
Or the green corners of the earth,
Or the blue regions of the air,
Where the melodious winds have birth;
Whether on crystal rocks ye rove,
Beneath the bosom of the sea
Wandering in many a coral grove,
Fair Nine, forsaking Poetry;
How have you left the ancient love
That bards of old enjoy’d in you!
The languid strings do scarcely move,
The sound is forced, the notes are few!
GWIN, KING OF NORWAY.
COME, Kings, and listen to my song:
When Gwin, the son of Nore,
Over the nations of the North
His cruel sceptre bore;
The Nobles of the land did feed
Upon the hungry poor;
They tear the poor man’s lamb, and drive
The needy from their door!
The land is desolate; our wives
And children cry for bread;
Arise, and pull the tyrant down,
Let Gwin be humbled.
Gordred the giant roused himself
From sleeping in his cave;
He shook the hills, and in the clouds
The troubled banners wave.
Beneath them roll’d, like tempests black,
The numerous sons of blood;
Like lions’ whelps, roaring abroad,
Seeking their nightly food.
Down Bleron’s hills they dreadful rush,
Their cry ascends the clouds;
The trampling horse and clanging arms
Like rushing mighty floods!
Their wives and children, weeping loud,
Follow in wild array,
Howling like ghosts, furious as wolves
In the bleak wintry day.
“Pull down the tyrant to the dust,
”Let Gwin be humbled,”
They cry, “ and let ten thousand lives
”Pay for the tyrant’s head.”
From tower to tower the watchmen cry,
”O Gwin, the son of Nore,
“Arouse thyself! the nations black
”Like clouds, come rolling o’er!”
Gwin rear’d his shield, his palace shakes,
His chiefs come rushing round;
Each, like an awful thunder-cloud
With voice of solemn sound:
Like reared stones around a grave
They stand around the King;
Then suddenly each seized his spear,
And clashing steel does ring.
The husbandman does leave his plough
To wade thro’ fields of gore;
The merchant binds his brows in steel,
And leaves the trading shore;
The shepherd leaves his mellow pipe,
And sounds the trumpet shrill,
The workman throws his hammer down
To heave the bloody bill.
Like the tall ghost of Barraton
Who sports in stormy sky,
Gwin leads his host as black as night,
When pestilence does fly,
With horses and with chariots —
And all his spearmen bold,
March to the sound of mournful song,
Like clouds around him roll’d.
Gwin lifts his hand — the nations halt;
”Prepare for war,” he cries —
Gordred appears! — his frowning brow
Troubles our northern skies.
The armies stand, like balances
Held in the Almighty’s hand; —
“Gwin, thou hast fill’d thy measure up,
”Thou’rt swept from out the land.”
And now the raging armies rush’d
Like warring mighty seas;
The Heavens are shook with roaring war,
The dust ascends the skies!
Earth smokes with blood, and groans, and shakes,
To drink her children’s gore,
A sea of blood; nor can the eye
See to the trembling shore.
And on the verge of this wild sea
Famine and death doth cry;
The cries of women and of babes
Over the field doth fly.
The king is seen raging afar,
With all his men of might;
Like blazing comets scattering death
Thro’ the red feverous night.
Beneath his arm like sheep they die,
And groan upon the plain;
The battle faints, and bloody men
Fight upon hills of slain.
Now death is sick, and riven men.
Labour and toil for life;
Steed rolls on steed, and shield on shield,
Sunk in this sea of strife!
The god of war is drunk with blood,
The earth doth faint and fail;
The stench of blood makes sick the heavens,
Ghosts glut the throat of hell!
O what have Kings to answer for
Before that awful throne!
When thousand deaths for vengeance cry
And ghosts accusing groan!
Like blazing comets in the sky
That shake the stars of light,
Which drop like fruit unto the earth
Thro’ the fierce burning night;
Like these did Gwin and Gordred meet,
And the first blow decides;
Down from the brow unto the breast
Gordred his head divides!
Gwin fell: the Sons of Norway fled,
All that remain’d alive;
The rest did fill the vale of death,
For them the eagles strive.
The river Dorman roll’d their blood
Into the northern sea;
Who mourn’d his sons, and overwhelm’d
The pleasant south country.
AN IMITATION OF SPENSER.
GOLDEN Apollo, that thro’ heaven wide
Scatter’st the rays of light, and truth his beams,
In lucent words my darkling verses dight
And wash my earthy mind in thy clear streams,
That wisdom may descend in fairy dreams:
All while the jocund hours in thy train
Scatter their fancies at thy poet’s feet;
And when thou yield’st to night thy wide domain,
Let rays of truth enlight his sleeping brain.
For brutish Pan in vain might thee assay
With tinkling sounds to dash thy nervous verse,
Sound without sense; yet in his rude affray,
(For Ignorance is Folly’s leasing nurse,
And love of Folly needs none other’s curse;)
Midas the praise hath gain’d of lengthen’d ears,
For which himself might deem him ne’er the worse
To sit in council with his modern peers
And judge of tinkling rhymes and elegances terse.
And thou, Mercurius, that with winged bow
Dost mount aloft into the yielding sky,
And thro’ Heaven’s halls thy airy flight dost throw,
Entering with holy feet to where on high
Jove weighs the counsel of futurity;
Then, laden with eternal fate, dost go
Down, like a falling star, from autumn sky,
And o’er the surface of the silent deep dost fly:
If thou arrivest at the sandy shore
Where nought but envious hissing adders dwell,
Thy golden rod, thrown on the dusty floor,
Can charm to harmony with potent spell;
Such is sweet Eloquence, that does dispel
Envy and Hate, that thirst for human gore;
And cause in sweet society to dwell
Vile savage minds that lurk in lonely cell.
O Mercury, assist my labouring sense
That round the circle of the world would fly,
As the wing’d eagle scorns the towery fence
Of Alpine hills round his high aëry,
And searches thro’ the corners of the sky,
Sports in the clouds to hear the thunder’s sound
And see the winged lightnings as they fly;
Then, bosom’d in an amber cloud, around
Plumes his wide wings, and seeks Sol’s palace high.
And thou, O warrior Maid invincible,
Arm’d with the terrors of Almighty Jove.
Pallas, Minerva, maiden terrible,
Lovest thou to walk the peaceful solemn grove,
In solemn gloom of branches interwove?
Or bear’st thy Ægis o’er the burning field,
Where, like the sea, the waves of battle move?
Or have thy soft piteous eyes beheld
The weary wanderer thro’ the desert rove?
Or does th’ afflicted man thy heavenly bosom move?
BLIND-MAN’S BUFF.
WHEN silver snow decks Susan’s clothes,
And jewel hangs at th’ shepherd’s nose,
The blushing bank is all my care,
With hearth so red, and walls so fair.
“Heap the sea-coal, come, heap it higher,
“The oaken log lay on the fire:”
The well-wash’d stools, a circling row,
With lad and lass, how fair the show!
The merry can of nut-brown ale,
The laughing jest, the love-sick tale,
Till, tired of chat, the game begins,
The lasses prick the lads with pins;
Roger from Dolly twitch’d the stool,
She falling, kiss’d the ground, poor fool!
She blush’d so red, with side-long glance
At hobnail Dick, who grieved the chance.
But now for Blind-man’s Buff they call;
Of each incumbrance clear the hall —
Jenny her silken kerchief folds,
And blear-eyed Will the black lot holds,
Now laughing, stops, with “Silence, hush!”
And Peggy Pout gives Sam a push. —
The Blind-man’s arms, extended wide,
Sam slips between: — ”O woe betide
Thee, clumsy Will! — ”but tittering Kate
Is penn’d up in the corner strait!
And now Will’s eyes beheld the play,
He thought his face was t’other way.
“Now, Kitty, now; what chance hast thou,
“Roger so near thee trips, I vow!”
She catches him — then Roger ties
His own head up — but not his eyes;
For thro’ the slender cloth he sees,
And runs at Sam, who slips with ease
His clumsy hold; and, dodging round,
Sukey is tumbled on the ground! —
“See what it is to play unfair!
“Where cheating is, there’s mischief there”
But Roger still pursues the chace, —
“He sees! he sees!” cries softly Grace;
“O Roger, thou, unskill’d in art
“Must, surer bound, go thro’ thy part!”
Now Kitty, pert, repeats the rhymes
And Roger turns him round three times,
Then pauses ere he starts; but Dick
Was mischief-bent upon a trick;
Down on his hands and knees he lay
Directly in the Blind-man’s way,
Then cries out, “Hem!” Hodge heard, and ran
With hood-wink’d chance — sure of his man;
But down he came. — Alas, how frail
Our best of hopes, how soon they fail!
With crimson drops he stains the ground,
Confusion startles all around!
Poor piteous Dick supports his head,
And fain would cure the hurt he made;
But Kitty hasted with a key
And down his back they straight convey
The cold relief — the blood is stay’d
And Hodge again holds up his head.
Such are the fortunes of the game,
And those who play should stop the same
By wholesome laws, such as — all those
Who on the blinded man impose,
Stand in his stead; as long agone
When men were first a nation grown,
Lawless they lived, till wantonness
And liberty began t’ increase,
And one man lay in another’s way;
Then laws were made to keep fair play.
KING EDWARD THE THIRD.
PERSONS.
King Edward.
The Black Prince.
Queen Philippa.
Duke of Clarence.
Sir John Chandos.
Sir Thomas Dagworth.
Sir Walter Manny.
Lord Audley.
Lord Percy.
Bishop.
William, Dagworth’s man.
Peter Blunt, a common soldier.
KING EDWARD THE THIRD.
SCENE. The Coast of France, King Edward and Nobles before it. The Army.
King.
O THOU to whose fury the nations are
But as dust! maintain thy servant’s right.
Without thine aid, the twisted mail, and spear,
And forged helm, and shield of seven times beaten brass,
Are idle trophies of the vanquisher.
When confusion rages, when the field is in a flame,
When the cries of blood tear horror from heaven,
And yelling death runs up and down the ranks,
Let Liberty, the charter’d right of Englishmen,
Won by our fathers in many a glorious field,
Enerve my soldiers; let Liberty
Blaze in each countenance, and fire the battle.
The enemy fight in chains, invisible chains, but heavy;
Their minds are fetter’d; then how can they be free,
While, like the mounting flame,
We spring to battle o’er the floods of death?
And these fair youths, the flower of England,
Venturing their lives in my most righteous cause,
O sheathe their hearts with triple steel, that they
May emulate their fathers’ virtues.
And thou, my son, be strong; thou fightest for a crown
That death can never ravish from thy brow,
A crown of glory but from thy very dust
Shall beam a radiance, to fire the breasts
Of youth unborn! Our names are written equal
In fame’s wide-trophied hall; ‘tis ours to gild
The letters, and to make them shine with gold
That never tarnishes: whether Third Edward,
Or the Prince of Wales, or Montacute, or Mortimer,
Or ev’n the least by birth, shall gain the brightest fame,
Is in His hand to whom all men are equal
The world of men are like the numerous stars
That beam and twinkle in the depth of night,
Each clad in glory according to his sphere;
But we, that wander from our native seats
And beam forth lustre on a darkling world,
Grow large as we advance! and some perhaps
The most obscure at home, that scarce were seen
To twinkle in their sphere, may so advance,
That the astonish’d world, with upturn’d eyes,
Regardless of the moon, and those that once were bright,
Stand only for to gaze upon their splendour!
[He here knights the Prince and other
young Nobles.
Now let us take a just revenge for those
Brave Lords, who fell beneath the bloody axe
At Paris. Thanks, noble Harcourt, for ‘twas
By your advice we landed here in Brittany,
A country not yet sown with destruction,
And where the fiery whirlwind of swift war
Has not yet swept its desolating wing. —
Into three parties we divide by day
And separate march, but join again at night:
Each knows his rank, and Heaven marshal all.
[Exeunt.
SCENE. English Court; Lionel, Duke of Clarence, Queen Philippa, Lords, Bishop, &c.
Clarence.
MY Lords, I have by the advice of her
Whom I am doubly bound to obey, my Parent
And my Sovereign, called you together.
My task is great, my burden heavier than
My unfledged years;
Yet with your kind assistance, Lords, I hope
England shall dwell in peace: that while my father
Toils in his wars and turns his eyes on this
His native shore, and sees commerce fly round
With his white wings, and sees his golden London
And her silver Thames, throng’d with shining spires
And corded ships, her merchants buzzing round
Like summer bees, and all the golden cities
In his land, overflowing with honey,
Glory may not be dimm’d with clouds of care.
Say, Lords, should not our thoughts be first to commerce?
My Lord Bishop, you would recommend us agriculture?
Bishop.
Sweet Prince, the arts of peace are great,
And no less glorious than those of war,
Perhaps more glorious in the philosophic mind.
When I sit at my home, a private man,
My thoughts are on my gardens and my fields,
How to employ the hand that lacketh bread.
If Industry is in my diocese
Religion will flourish; each man’s heart
Is cultivated and will bring forth fruit:
This is my private duty and my pleasure.
But as I sit in council with my prince,
My thoughts take in the general good of the whole,
And England is the land favour’d by Commerce;
For Commerce, tho’ the child of Agriculture,
Fosters his parent, who else must sweat and toil
And gain but scanty fare. Then, my dear Lord,
Be England’s trade our care; and we, as tradesmen,
Looking to the gain of this our native land.
Clarence.
O my good Lord, true wisdom drops like honey
From your tongue, as from a worshipp’d oak!
Forgive, my Lords, my talkative youth, that speaks
Not merely what my narrow observation has
Pick’d up, but what I have concluded from your lessons:
Now, by the Queen’s advice, I ask your leave
To dine to-morrow with the Mayor of London:
If I obtain your leave, I have another boon
To ask, which is the favour of your company.
I fear Lord Percy will not give me leave.
Percy.
Dear Sir, a prince should always keep his state,
And grant his favours with a sparing hand,
Or they are never rightly valued.
These are my thoughts: yet it were best to go:
But keep a proper dignity, for now
You represent the sacred person of
Your father; ‘tis with princes as ‘tis with the sun;
If not sometimes o’erclouded, we grow weary
Of his officious glory.
Clarence.
Then you will give me leave to shine sometimes,
My Lord?
Lord.
Thou hast a gallant spirit, which I fear
Will be imposed on by the closer sort
