PALGRAVE'S NOTES.
Poem 2. Rouse Memnon's mother: Awaken the Dawn from the dark Earth and the clouds where she is resting. Aurora in the old mythology is mother of Memnon (the East), and wife of Tithonus (the appearances of Earth and Sky during the last hours of Night). She leaves him every morning in renewed youth, to prepare the way for Phoebus (the Sun), whilst Tithonus remains in perpetual old age and grayness.
by Peneus' streams: Phoebus loved the Nymph Daphne whom he met by the river Peneus in the vale of Tempe. This legend expressed the attachment of the Laurel (Daphne) to the Sun, under whose heat the tree both fades and flourishes. It has been thought worth while to explain these allusions, because they illustrate the character of the Grecian Mythology, which arose in the Personification of natural phenomena, and was totally free from those debasing and ludicrous ideas with which, through Roman and later misunderstanding or perversion, it has been associated.
Amphion's lyre: He was said to have built the walls of Thebes to the sound of his music.
Night like a drunkard reels: Compare Romeo and Juliet, Act II. Scene 3: "The gray-eyed morn smiles," etc.—It should be added that three lines, which appeared hopelessly misprinted, have been omitted in this Poem.
Poem 4.
Time's chest: in which he is figuratively supposed to lay up past treasures. So in Troilus, Act III. Scene 3, "Time hath a wallet at his back," etc.
Poem 5.
A fine example of the high-wrought and conventional Elizabethan Pastoralism, which it would be ludicrous to criticise on the ground of the unshepherdlike or unreal character of some images suggested. Stanza 6 was probably inserted by Izaak Walton.
Poem 9. This Poem, with 25 and 94, is taken from Davison's "Rhapsody," first published in 1602. One stanza has been here omitted, in accordance with the principle noticed in the Preface. Similar omissions occur in 45, 87, 100, 128, 160, 165, 227, 235. The more serious abbreviation by which it has been attempted to bring Crashaw's "Wishes" and Shelley's "Euganean Hills" within the limits of lyrical unity, is commended with much diffidence to the judgment of readers acquainted with the original pieces.
Presence in line 12 is here conjecturally printed for present. A very few similar corrections of (it is presumed) misprints have been made:—as thy for my, 22, line 9: men for me, 41, line 3: viol for idol, 252, line 43, and one for our, line 90: locks for looks, 271, line 5: dome for doom, 275, line 25:—with two or three more less important.
Poem 15.
This charming little poem, truly "old and plain, and dallying with the innocence of love" like that spoken of in Twelfth Night, is taken with 5, 17, 20, 34, and 40, from the most characteristic collection of Elizabeth's reign, "England's Helicon," first published in 1600.
Poem 16.
Readers who have visited Italy will be reminded of more than one picture by this gorgeous Vision of Beauty, equally sublime and pure in its Paradisaical naturalness. Lodge wrote it on a voyage to "the Islands of Terceras and the Canaries"; and he seems to have caught, in those southern seas, no small portion of the qualities which marked the almost contemporary Art of Venice,—the glory and the glow of Veronese, or Titian, or Tintoret, when he most resembles Titian, and all but surpasses him.
The clear: is the crystalline or outermost heaven of the old cosmography. For resembling other copies give refining: the correct reading is perhaps revealing.
For a fair there's fairer none: If you desire a Beauty, there is none more beautiful than Rosaline.
Poem 18.
that fair thou owest: that beauty thou ownest.
Poem 23.
the star Whose worth's unknown, although his height be taken: apparently, Whose stellar influence is uncalculated, although his angular altitude from the plane of the astrolabe or artificial horizon used by astrologers has been determined.
Poem 27.
keel: skim.
Poem 29.
expense: waste.
Poem 30.
Nativity once in the main of light: when a star has risen and entered on the full stream of light;—another of the astrological phrases no longer familiar.
Crooked eclipses: as coming athwart the Sun's apparent course.
Wordsworth, thinking probably of the "Venus" and the "Lucrece," said finely of Shakespeare "Shakespeare could not have written an Epic; he would have died of plethora of thought." This prodigality of nature is exemplified equally in his Sonnets. The copious selection here given (which from the wealth of the material, required greater consideration than any other portion of the Editor's task) contains many that will not be fully felt and understood without some earnestness of thought on the reader's part. But he is not likely to regret the labour.
Poem 31.
upon misprision growing: either, granted in error, or, on the growth of contempt.
Poem 32.
With the tone of this Sonnet compare Hamlet's "Give me that man That is not passion's slave," etc. Shakespeare's writings show the deepest sensitiveness to passion:—hence the attraction he felt in the contrasting effects of apathy.
Poem 33.
grame: sorrow. It was long before English Poetry returned to the charming simplicity of this and a few other poems by Wyat.
Poem 34.
Pandion in the ancient fable was father to Philomela.
Poem 38.
ramage: confused noise.
Poem 39.
censures: judges.
Poem 40.
By its style this beautiful example of old simplicity and feeling may be referred to the early years of Elizabeth. Late forgot: lately.
Poem 41.
haggards: the least tameable hawks.
Poem 44.
cypres or cyprus,—used by the old writers for crape: whether from the French crespe or from the Island whence it was imported. Its accidental similarity in spelling to cypress has, here and in Milton's Penseroso, probably confused readers.
Poems 46, 47.
"I never saw anything like this funeral dirge," says Charles Lamb, "except the ditty which reminds Ferdinand of his drowned father in the Tempest. As that is of the water, watery; so this is of the earth, earthy. Both have that intenseness of feeling, which seems to resolve itself into the element which it contemplates."
Poem 51.
crystal: fairness.
Poem 53.
This "Spousal Verse" was written in honour of the Ladies Elizabeth and Katherine Somerset. Although beautiful, it is inferior to the "Epithalamion" on Spenser's own marriage,—omitted with great reluctance as not in harmony with modern manners.
feateously: elegantly.
shend: put out.
a noble peer: Robert Devereux, second Lord Essex, then at the height of his brief triumph after taking Cadiz: hence the allusion following to the Pillars of Hercules, placed near Gades by ancient legend.
Eliza: Elizabeth; twins of Jove: the stars Castor and Pollux; baldric: belt, the zodiac.
Poem 57.
A fine example of a peculiar class of Poetry;—that written by thoughtful men who practised this Art but little. Wotton's, 72, is another. Jeremy Taylor, Bishop Berkeley, Dr. Johnson, Lord Macaulay, have left similar specimens.
Poem 62.
whist: hushed; Pan: used here for the Lord of all; Lars and Lemures: household Gods and spirits of relations dead; Flamens: Roman priests; That twice-batter'd god: Dagon.
Osiris, the Egyptian god of Agriculture (here, perhaps by confusion with Apis, figured as a Bull), was torn to pieces by Typho and embalmed after death in a sacred chest. This myth, reproduced in Syria and Greece in the legends of Thammuz, Adonis, and perhaps Absyrtus, represents the annual death of the Sun or the Year under the influences of the winter darkness. Horus, the son of Osiris, as the New Year, in his turn overcomes Typho.—It suited the genius of Milton's time to regard this primaeval poetry and philosophy of the seasons, which has a further reference to the contest of Good and Evil in Creation, as a malignant idolatry. Shelley's Chorus in Hellas, "Worlds on worlds," treats the subject in a larger and sweeter spirit.
unshower'd grass: as watered by the Nile only.
Poem 64.
The Late Massacre: the Vaudois persecution, carried on in 1655 by the Duke of Savoy. This "collect in verse," as it has been justly named, is the most mighty Sonnet in any language known to the Editor. Readers should observe that, unlike our sonnets of the sixteenth century, it is constructed , on the original Italian or Provençal model,—unquestionably far superior to the imperfect form employed by Shakespeare and Drummond.
Poem 65.
Cromwell returned from Ireland in 1650. Hence the prophecies, not strictly fulfilled, of his deference to the Parliament, in stanzas 21-24.
This Ode, beyond doubt one of the finest in our language, and more in Milton's style than has been reached by any other poet, is occasionally obscure from imitation of the condensed Latin syntax. The meaning of st. 5 is "rivalry or hostility are the same to a lofty spirit, and limitation more hateful than opposition." The allusion in st. 11 is to the old physical doctrines of the non-existence of a vacuum and the impenetrability of matter:—in st. 17 to the omen traditionally connected with the foundation of the Capitol at Rome. The ancient belief that certain years in life complete natural periods and are hence peculiarly exposed to death, is introduced in stanza 26 by the word climacteric.
Poem 66.
Lycidas. The person lamented is Milton's college friend Edward King, drowned in 1637 whilst crossing from Chester to Ireland.
Strict Pastoral Poetry was first written or perfected by the Dorian Greeks settled in Sicily: but the conventional use of it, exhibited more magnificently in Lycidas than in any other pastoral, is apparently of Roman origin. Milton, employing the noble freedom of a great artist, has here united ancient mythology, with what may be called the modern mythology of Camus and Saint Peter,—to direct Christian images.—The metrical structure of this glorious poem is partly derived from Italian models.
Sisters of the sacred well: the Muses, said to frequent the fountain Helicon on Mount Parnassus.
Mona: Anglesea, called by the Welsh Inis Dowil or the Dark Island, from its dense forests.
Deva: the Dee: a river which probably derived its magical character from Celtic traditions: it was long the boundary of Briton and Saxon.—These places are introduced, as being near the scene of the shipwreck.
Orpheus was torn to pieces by Thracian women; Amaryllis and Neaera names used here for the love idols of poets: as Damoetas previously for a shepherd.
the blind Fury: Atropos, fabled to cut the thread of life.
Arethuse and Mincius: Sicilian and Italian waters here alluded to as synonymous with the pastoral poetry of Theocritus and Virgil.
oat: pipe, used here like Collins' oaten stop, No. 146, for Song.
Hippotades: Aeolus, god of the Winds. Panope a Nereid. The names of local deities in the Hellenic mythology express generally some feature in the natural landscape, which the Greeks studied and analysed with their usual unequalled insight and feeling. Panope represents the boundlessness of the ocean-horizon when seen from a height, as compared with a limited horizon of the land in hilly countries such as Greece or Asia Minor.
Camus: the Cam; put for King's University.
The sanguine flower: the Hyacinth of the ancients; probably our Iris.
The pilot: Saint Peter, figuratively introduced as the head of the Church on earth, to foretell "the ruin of our corrupted clergy, then in their heighth" under Laud's primacy.
the wolf: Popery.
Alpheus: a stream in Southern Greece, supposed to flow underseas to meet the Arethuse.
Swart star: the Dogstar, called swarthy because its heliacal rising in ancient times occurred soon after mid-summer.
moist vows: either tearful prayers, or prayers for one at sea.
Bellerus: a giant, apparently created here by Milton to personify Bellerium, the ancient title of the Land's End.
The great Vision:—The story was that the Archangel Michael had appeared on the rock by Marazion in Mount's Bay which bears his name. Milton calls on him to turn his eyes from the south homeward, and to pity Lycidas, if his body has drifted into the troubled waters of the Land's End. Finisterre being the land due south of Marazion, two places in that district (then by our trade with Corunna probably less unfamiliar to English ears), are named,—Namancos now Mujio in Galicia, Bayona north of the Minho, or, perhaps a fortified rock (one of the Cies Islands) not unlike St. Michael's Mount, at the entrance of Vigo Bay.
ore: rays of golden light. Doric lay: Sicilian, pastoral.
Poem 70.
The assault: was an attack on London expected in 1642, when the troops of Charles I. reached Brentford. "Written on his door" was in the original title of this sonnet. Milton was then living in Aldersgate Street.
Emathian Conqueror: When Thebes was destroyed (B.C. 335) and the citizens massacred by thousands, Alexander ordered the house of Pindar to be spared. He was as incapable of appreciating the Poet as Lewis XIV. of appreciating Racine: but even the narrow and barbarian mind of Alexander could understand the advantage of a showy act of homage to Poetry.
the repeated air \Of sad Electra's poet: Amongst Plutarch's vague stories, he says that when the Spartan confederacy in 404 B.C. took Athens, a proposal to demolish it was rejected through the effect produced on the commanders by hearing part of a chorus from the Electra of Euripides sung at a feast. There is however no apparent congruity between the lines quoted (167, 8 Ed. Dindorf) and the result ascribed to them.
Poem 73.
This high-toned and lovely Madrigal is quite in the style, and worthy of, the "pure Simonides."
Poem 75.
Vaughan's beautiful though quaint verses should be compared with Wordsworth's great Ode, No. 287.
Poem 76.
Favonius: the spring wind.
Poem 77.
Themis: the goddess of justice. Skinner was grandson by his mother to Sir E. Coke;—hence, as pointed out by Mr. Keightley, Milton's allusion to the bench.
what the Swede intends, and what the French: Sweden was then at war with Poland, and France with the Spanish Netherlands.
Poem 79.
Sydneian showers: either in allusion to the conversations in the "Arcadia," or to Sidney himself as a model of "gentleness" in spirit and demeanour.
Poem 84.
Elizabeth of Bohemia: Daughter to James I., and ancestor to Sophia of Hanover. These lines are a fine specimen of gallant and courtly compliment.
Poem 85.
Lady M. Ley was daughter to Sir J. Ley, afterwards Earl of Marlborough, who died March, 1628-9, coincidently with the dissolution of the third Parliament of Charles's reign. Hence Milton poetically compares his death to that of the Orator Isocrates of Athens, after Philip's victory in 328 B.C.
Poems 92, 93.
These are quite a Painter's poems.
Poem 99.
From Prison: to which his active support of Charles I. twice brought the high-spirited writer.
Poem 105.
Inserted in Book II. as written in the character of a Soldier of Fortune in the Seventeenth Century.
Poem 106.
Waly waly: an exclamation of sorrow, the root and the pronunciation of which are preserved in the word caterwaul. Brae: hillside; burn: brook; busk: adorn. Saint Anton's Well: at the foot of Arthur's Seat by Edinburgh. Cramasie: crimson.
Poem 107.
burd: maiden.
Poem 108.
corbies: crows; fail: turf; hause: neck; theek: thatch.
If not in their origin, in their present form this and the two preceding poems appear due to the Seventeenth Century, and have therefore been placed in Book II.
Poem 111.
The remark quoted in the note to No. 47 applies equally to these truly wonderful verses, which, like "Lycidas," may be regarded as a test of any reader's insight into the most poetical aspects of Poetry. The general differences between them are vast: but in imaginative intensity Marvell and Shelley are closely related. This poem is printed as a translation in Marvell's works: but the original Latin is obviously his own. The most striking verses in it, here quoted as the book is rare, answer more or less to stanzas 2 and 6:
Alma Quies, teneo te! et te, germana Quietis, Simplicitas! vos ergo diu per templa, per urbes Quaesivi, regum perque alta palatia, frustra: Sed vos hortorum per opaca silentia, longe Celarunt plantae virides, et concolor umbra.
Poems 112&113.
L'Allegro and Il Penseroso. It is a striking proof of Milton's astonishing power, that these, the earliest pure Descriptive Lyrics in our language, should still remain the best in a style which so many great poets have since attempted. The Bright and the Thoughtful aspects of Nature are their subjects: but each is preceded by a mythological introduction in a mixed Classical and Italian manner. The meaning of the first is that Gaiety is the child of Nature; of the second, that Pensiveness is the daughter of Sorrow and Genius.
112: Perverse ingenuity has conjectured that for Cerberus we should read Erebus, who in the Mythology is brother at once and husband of Night. But the issue of this union is not Sadness, but Day and Aether:—completing the circle of primary creation, as the parents are both children of Chaos, the first-begotten of all things. (Hesiod.)
the mountain nymph: compare Wordsworth's Sonnet, No. 210.
The clouds in thousand liveries dight: is in apposition to the preceding, by a grammatical license not uncommon with Milton.
tells his tale: counts his flock; Cynosure: the Pole Star; Corydon, Thyrsis, etc.: Shepherd names from the old Idylls; Jonson's learned sock: the gaiety of our age would find little pleasure in his elaborate comedies; Lydian airs: a light and festive style of ancient music.
113: bestead: avail.
starr'd Ethiop queen: Cassiopeia, the legendary Queen of Ethiopia, and thence translated amongst the constellations.
Cynthia: the Moon: her chariot is drawn by dragons in ancient representations.
Hermes: called Trismegistus, a mystical writer of the Neo-Platonist school; Thebes, etc.: subjects of Athenian Tragedy; Buskin'd: tragic; Musaeus: a poet in Mythology.
him that left half told: Chaucer, in his incomplete "Squire's Tale."
great bards: Ariosto, Tasso, and Spenser, are here intended.
frounced: curled; The Attic Boy: Cephalus.
Poem 114.
Emigrants supposed to be driven towards America by the government of Charles I.
But apples, etc.: A fine example of Marvell's imaginative hyperbole.
Poem 115.
concent: harmony.
Poem 123.
The Bard.: This Ode is founded on a fable that Edward I., after conquering Wales, put the native Poets to death. After lamenting his comrades (st. 2, 3) the Bard prophesies the fate of Edward II. and the conquests of Edward III. (4); his death and that of the Black Prince (5): of Richard II, with the wars of York and Lancaster, the murder of Henry VI. (the meek usurper), and of Edward V. and his brother (6). He turns to the glory and prosperity following the accession of the Tudors (7), through Elizabeth's reign (8): and concludes with a vision of the poetry of Shakespeare and Milton.
Glo'ster: Gilbert de Clare, son-in-law to Edward; Mortimer: one of the Lords Marchers of Wales.
Arvon: the shores of Carnarvonshire opposite Anglesey.
She-wolf: Isabel of France, adulterous Queen of Edward II.; Towers of Julius: the Tower of London, built in part, according to tradition, by Julius Caesar.
bristled boar: the badge of Richard III.
Half of thy heart: Queen Eleanor died soon after the conquest of Wales.
Arthur: Henry VII. named his eldest son thus, in deference to British feeling and legend.
Poem 125.
The Highlanders called the battle of Culloden, Drumossie.
Poem 126.
lilting: singing blithely; loaning: broad lane; bughts: pens; scorning: rallying; dowie: dreary; daffin' and gabbin': joking and chatting; leglin: milkpail; shearing: reaping; bandsters: sheaf-binders; lyart: grizzled; runkled: wrinkled; fleeching: coaxing; gloaming: twilight; bogle: ghost; dool: sorrow.
Poem 128.
The Editor has found no authoritative text of this poem, in his judgment superior to any other of its class in melody and pathos. Part is probably not later than the seventeenth century: in other stanzas a more modern hand, much resembling Scott's, is traceable. Logan's poem (127) exhibits a knowledge rather of the old legend than of the old verses.
Hecht: promised, the obsolete hight; mavis: thrush; ilka: every; lav'rock: lark; haughs: valley-meadows; twined: parted from; marrow: mate; syne then.
Poem 129.
The Royal George, of 108 guns, whilst undergoing a partial careening in Portsmouth Harbour, was overset about 10 A.M. Aug. 29, 1782. The total loss was believed to be near 1000 souls.
Poem 131.
A little masterpiece in a very difficult style: Catullus himself could hardly have bettered it. In grace, tenderness, simplicity, and humour it is worthy of the Ancients; and even more so, from the completeness and unity of the picture presented.
Poem 136.
Perhaps no writer who has given such strong proofs of the poetic nature has left less satisfactory poetry than Thomson. Yet he touched little which he did not beautify: and this song, with "Rule Britannia" and a few others, must make us regret that he did not more seriously apply himself to lyrical writing.
Poem 140.
Aeolian lyre: the Greeks ascribed the origin of their Lyrical Poetry to the colonies of Aeolis in Asia Minor.
Thracia's hills supposed a favourite resort of Mars.
Feather'd king the Eagle of Jupiter, admirably described by Pindar in a passage here imitated by Gray.
Idalia: in Cyprus, where Cytherea (Venus) was especially worshipped.
Hyperion: the Sun. St. 6-8 allude to the Poets of the Islands and Mainland of Greece, to those of Rome and of England.
Theban Eagle: Pindar.
Poem 141.
chaste-eyed Queen: Diana.
Poem 142.
Attic warbler: the nightingale.
Poem 144.
sleekit: sleek; bickering brattle: flittering flight; laith: loth; pattle: ploughstaff; whyles: at times; a daimen icker: a corn-ear now and then; thrave: shock; lave: rest; foggage: aftergrass; snell: biting; but hald: without dwelling-place; thole: bear; cranreuch: hoarfrost; thy lane: alone; a-gley: off the right line, awry.
Poem 147.
Perhaps the noblest stanzas in our language.
Poem 148.
stoure: dust-storm; braw: smart.
Poem 149.
scaith: hurt; tent: guard; steer: molest.
Poem 151.
drumlie: muddy; birk: birch.
Poem 152.
greet: cry; daurna: dare not.—There can hardly exist a poem more truly tragic in the highest sense than this: nor, except Sappho, has any Poetess known to the Editor equalled it in excellence.
Poem 153.
fou: merry with drink; coost: carried; unco skeigh: very proud; gart: forced; abeigh: aside; Ailsa craig: a rock in the Firth of Clyde; grat his een bleert: cried till his eyes were bleared; lowpin: leaping; linn: waterfall; sair: sore; smoor'd: smothered; crouse and canty: blythe and gay.
Poem 154.
Burns justly named this "one of the most beautiful songs in the Scots or any other language." One verse, interpolated by Beattie, is here omitted:—it contains two good lines, but is quite out of harmony with the original poem.
Bigonet: little cap, probably altered from beguinette; thraw: twist; caller: fresh.
Poem 155.
airts: quarters; row: roll; shaw: small wood in a hollow, spinney; knowes: knolls.
Poem 156.
jo: sweetheart; brent: smooth; pow: head.
Poem 157.
leal: faithful; fain: happy.
Poem 158.
Henry VI. founded Eton.
Poem 161.
The Editor knows no Sonnet more remarkable than this, which, with 162, records Cowper's gratitude to the Lady whose affectionate care for many years gave what sweetness he could enjoy to a life radically wretched. Petrarch's sonnets have a more ethereal grace and a more perfect finish; Shakespeare's more passion; Milton's stand supreme in stateliness, Wordsworth's in depth and delicacy. But Cowper's unites with an exquisiteness in the turn of thought which the ancients would have called Irony, an intensity of pathetic tenderness peculiar to his loving and ingenuous nature. There is much mannerism, much that is unimportant or of now exhausted interest in his poems: but where he is great, it is with that elementary greatness which rests on the most universal human feelings. Cowper is our highest master in simple pathos.
Poem 163.
fancied green: cherished garden.
Poem 164.
Nothing except his surname appears recoverable with regard to the author of this truly noble poem: It should be noted as exhibiting a rare excellence,—the climax of simple sublimity.
It is a lesson of high instructiveness to examine the essential qualities which give first-rate poetical rank to lyrics such as "To-morrow" or "Sally in our Alley," when compared with poems written (if the phrase may be allowed) in keys so different as the subtle sweetness of Shelley, the grandeur of Gray and Milton, or the delightful Pastoralism of the Elizabethan verse. Intelligent readers will gain hence a clear understanding of the vast imaginative, range of Poetry;—through what wide oscillations the mind and the taste of a nation may pass;—how many are the roads which Truth and Nature open to Excellence.
Poem 166.
stout Cortez: History requires here Balbóa: (A.T.) It may be noticed, that to find in Chapman's Homer the "pure serene" of the original, the reader must bring with him the imagination of the youthful poet;—he must be "a Greek himself," as Shelley finely said of Keats.
Poem 169.
The most tender and true of Byron's smaller poems.
Poem 170.
This poem, with 236, exemplifies the peculiar skill with which Scott employs proper names: nor is there a surer sign of high poetical genius.
Poem 191.
The Editor in this and in other instances has risked the addition (or the change) of a Title, that the aim of the verses following may be grasped more clearly and immediately.
Poem 198.
Nature's Eremite: refers to the fable of the Wandering Jew.—This beautiful sonnet was the last word of a poet deserving the title "marvellous boy" in a much higher sense than Chatterton. If the fulfilment may ever safely be prophesied from the promise, England appears to have lost in Keats one whose gifts in Poetry have rarely been surpassed. Shakespeare, Milton, and Wordsworth, had their lives been closed at twenty-five, would (so far as we know) have left poems of less excellence and hope than the youth who, from the petty school and the London surgery, passed at once to a place with them of "high collateral glory."
Poem 201.
It is impossible not to regret that Moore has written so little in this sweet and genuinely national style.
Poem 202.
A masterly example of Byron's command of strong thought and close reasoning in verse:—as the next is equally characteristic of Shelley's wayward intensity, and 204 of the dramatic power, the vital identification of the poet with other times and characters, in which Scott is second only to Shakespeare.
Poem 209.
Bonnivard, a Genevese, was imprisoned by the Duke of Savoy in Chillon on the lake of Geneva for his courageous defence of his country against the tyranny with which Piedmont threatened it during the first half of the seventeenth century. This noble Sonnet is worthy to stand near Milton's on the Vaudois massacre.
Poem 210.
Switzerland was usurped by the French under Napoleon in 1800: Venice in 1797 (211).
Poem 215.
This battle was fought Dec. 2, 1800, between the Austrians under Archduke John and the French under Moreau, in a forest near Munich. Hohen Linden means High Limetrees.
Poem 218.
After the capture of Madrid by Napoleon, Sir J. Moore retreated before Soult and Ney to Corunna, and was killed whilst covering the embarcation of his troops. His tomb, built by Ney, bears this inscription—"John Moore, leader of the English armies, slain in battle, 1809."
Poem 229.
The Mermaid was the club-house of Shakespeare, Ben Jonson, and other choice spirits of that age.
Poem 230.
Maisie: Mary. Scott has given us nothing more complete and lovely than this little song, which unites simplicity and dramatic power to a wild-wood music of the rarest quality. No moral is drawn, far less any conscious analysis of feeling attempted:—the pathetic meaning is left to be suggested by the mere presentiment of the situation. Inexperienced critics have often named this, which may be called the Homeric manner, superficial, from its apparent simple facility: but first-rate excellence in it (as shown here, in 196, 156, and 129) is in truth one of the least common triumphs of Poetry.—This style should be compared with what is not less perfect in its way, the searching out of inner feeling, the expression of hidden meanings, the revelation of the heart of Nature and of the Soul within the Soul,—the analytical method, in short,—most completely represented by Wordsworth and by Shelley.
Poem 234.
correi: covert on a hillside; Cumber: trouble.
Poem 235.
Two intermediate stanzas have been here omitted. They are very ingenious, but, of all poetical qualities, ingenuity is least in accordance with pathos.
Poem 243.
This poem has an exaltation and a glory, joined with an exquisiteness of expression, which place it in the highest rank amongst the many masterpieces of its illustrious Author.
Poem 252.
interlunar swoon: interval of the Moon's invisibility.
Poem 256.
Calpe: Gibraltar; Lofoden: the Maelstrom whirlpool off the N.-W. coast of Norway.
Poem 257.
This lovely poem refers here and there to a ballad by Hamilton on the subject better treated in 127 and 128.
Poem 268.
Arcturi: seemingly used for northern stars.
And wild roses, etc. Our language has no line modulated with more subtle sweetness. A good poet might have written And roses wild:—yet this slight change would disenchant the verse of its peculiar beauty.
Poem 270.
Ceres' daughter: Proserpine; God of Torment: Pluto.
Poem 271.
This impassioned address expresses Shelley's most rapt imaginations, and is the direct modern representative of the feeling which led the Greeks to the worship of Nature.
Poem 274.
The leading idea of this beautiful description of a day's landscape in Italy is expressed with an obscurity not unfrequent with its author. It appears to be,—On the voyage of life are many moments of pleasure, given by the sight of Nature, who has power to heal even the worldliness and the uncharity of man.
Amphitrite was daughter to Ocean.
Sun-girt City: It is difficult not to believe that the correct reading is Seagirt. Many of Shelley's poems appear to have been printed in England during his residence abroad: others were printed from his manuscripts after his death. Hence probably the text of no English Poet after 1660 contains so many errors. See the Note on No. 9.
Poem 275.
Maenad: a frenzied Nymph, attendant on Dionysus in the Greek mythology.
The sea-blooms, etc.: Plants under water sympathise with the seasons of the laud, and hence with the winds which affect them.
Poem 276.
Written soon after the death, by shipwreck, of Wordsworth's brother John. This Poem should be compared with Shelley's following it. Each is the most complete expression of the innermost spirit of his art given by these great Poets:—of that Idea which, as in the case of the true Painter (to quote the words of Reynolds), "subsists only in the mind: The sight never beheld it, nor has the hand expressed it; it is an idea residing in the breast of the artist, which he is always labouring to impart, and which he dies at last without imparting."
Poem 278.
Proteus represented the everlasting changes united with ever-recurrent sameness, of the Sea.
Poem 279.
the Royal Saint: Henry VI.
INDEX OF WRITERS.
WITH DATES OF BIRTH AND DEATH.
ALEXANDER, William (1580-1640) 22
BACON, Francis (1561-1626) 57
BARBAULD, Anna Laetitia (1743-1825) 165
BARNEFIELD, Richard (16th Century) 34
BEAUMONT, Francis (1586-1616) 67
BURNS, Robert (1759-1796) 125, 132, 139, 144, 148, 149, 150, 151, 153,
155, 156
BYRON, George Gordon Noel (1788-1824) 169, 171, 173 190, 202; 209, 222,
232
CAMPBELL, Thomas (1777-1844) 181, 183, 187, 197, 206, 207, 215, 256,
262, 267, 283
CAREW, Thomas (1589-1639) 87
CAREY, Henry (— -1743) 131
CIBBER, Colley (1671-1757) 119
COLERIDGE, Hartley (1796-1849) 175
COLERIDGE, Samuel Taylor (1772-1834) 168, 280
COLLINS, William (1720-1756) 124, 141, 146
COLLINS, —- (18th Century) 164
CONSTABLE, Henry (156-?-1604?) 15
COWLEY, Abraham (1618-1667) 102
COWPER, William (1731-1800) 129, 134, 143, 160, 161, 162
CRASHAW, Richard (1615?-1652) 79
CUNNINGHAM, Allan (1784-1842) 205
DANIEL, Samuel (1562-1619) 35
DEKKER, Thomas (— -1638?) 54
DRAYTON, Michael (1563-1631) 37
DRUMMOND, William (1585-1649) 2, 38, 43, 55, 58, 59, 61
DRYDEN, John (1631-1700) 63, 116
ELLIOTT, Jane (18th Century) 126
FLETCHER, John (1576-1625) 104
GAY, John (1688-1732) 130
GOLDSMITH, Oliver (1728-1774) 138
GRAHAM, —- (1735-1797) 133
GRAY, Thomas (1716-1771) 117, 120, 123, 140, 142, 147, 158, 159
HERBERT, George (1593-1632) 74
HERRICK, Robert (1591-1674?) 82, 88, 92, 93, 96, 109, 110
HEYWOOD, Thomas (— -1649?) 52
HOOD, Thomas (1798-1845) 224, 231, 235
JONSON, Ben (1574-1637) 73, 78, 90
KEATS, John (1795-1821) 166, 167, 191, 193, 198, 229, 244, 255, 270, 284
LAMB, Charles (1775-1835) 220, 233, 237
LINDSAY, Anne (1750-1825) 152
LODGE, Thomas (1556-1625) 16
LOGAN, John (1748-1788) 127
LOVELACE, Richard (1618-1658) 83, 99, 100
LYLYE, John (1554-1600) 51
MARLOWE, Christopher (1562-1593) 5
MARVELL, Andrew (1620-1678) 65, 111, 114
MICKLE, William Julius (1734-1788) 154
MILTON, John (1608-1674) 62, 64, 66, 70, 71, 76, 77, 85, 112, 113, 115
MOORE, Thomas (1780-1852) 185, 201, 217, 221, 225
NAIRN, Carolina (1766-1845) 157
NASH, Thomas (1567-1601?) 1
PHILIPS, Ambrose (1671-1749) 121
POPE, Alexander (1688-1744) 118
PRIOR, Matthew (1664-1721) 137
ROGERS, Samuel (1762-1855) 135, 145
SCOTT, Walter (1771-1832) 105, 170, 182, 186, 192, 194, 196, 204, 230,
234, 236, 239, 263
SEDLEY, Charles (1639-1701) 81, 98
SEWELL, George (— -1726) 163
SHAKESPEARE, William (1564-1616) 3, 4, 6, 7, 8, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 18,
19, 20, 23, 24, 27, 28, 29, 30, 31, 32, 36, 39, 42, 44, 45, 46, 48, 49
50, 56, 60
SHELLEY, Percy Bysshe (1792-1822) 172, 176, 184, 188, 195, 203, 226,
227, 241, 246, 252, 259, 260, 264, 265, 268, 271, 274, 275, 277, 285,
288
SHIRLEY, James (1596-1666) 68, 69
SIDNEY, Philip (1554-1586) 24
SOUTHEY, Robert (1774-1843) 216, 228
SPENSER, Edmund (1553-1598/9) 53
SUCKLING, John (1608/9-1641) 101
SYLVESTER, Joshua (1563-1618) 25
THOMSON, James (1700-1748) 122, 136
VAUGHAN, Henry (1621-1695) 75
VERE, Edward (1534-1604) 41
WALLER, Edmund (1605-1687) 89, 95
WEBSTER, John (— -1638?) 47
WITHER, George (1588-1667) 103
WOLFE, Charles (1791-1823) 218
WORDSWORTH, William (1770-1850) 174, 177, 178, 179, 180, 189, 200, 208,
210, 211, 212, 213, 214, 219, 223, 238, 240, 242, 243, 245, 247, 248,
249, 250, 251, 253, 254, 257, 258, 261, 266, 269, 272, 273, 276, 278,
279, 281, 282, 286, 287
WOTTON, Henry (1568-1639) 72, 84
WYAT, Thomas (1503-1542) 21, 33
UNKNOWN: 9, 17, 40, 80, 86, 91, 94, 97, 106, 107, 108, 128
INDEX OF FIRST LINES.
Absence, hear thou my protestation
A Chieftain to the Highlands bound
A flock of sheep that leisurely pass by
Ah, Chloris! could I now but sit
Ah! County Guy, the hour is nigh
All in the Downs the fleet was moor'd
All thoughts, all passions, all delights
And are ye sure the news is true?
And is this Yarrow?—This the Stream
And thou art dead, as young and fair
And wilt thou leave me thus?
Ariel to Miranda:—Take
Art thou pale for weariness
Art thou poor, yet hast thou golden slumbers?
As it fell upon a day
As I was walking all alane
A slumber did my spirit seal
As slow our ship her foamy track
A sweet disorder in the dress
At the corner of Wood Street, when daylight appears
At the mid hour of night, when stars are weeping, I fly
Avenge, O Lord! Thy slaughter'd Saints, whose bones
Awake, Aeolian lyre, awake
Awake, awake, my Lyre!
A weary lot is thine, fair maid
A wet sheet and a flowing sea
A widow bird sate mourning for her Love
Bards of Passion and of Mirth
Beauty sat bathing by a spring
Behold her, single in the field
Being your slave, what should I do but tend
Beneath these fruit-tree boughs that shed
Best and brightest, come away
Bid me to live, and I will live
Blest pair of Sirens, pledges of Heaven's joy
Blow, blow, thou winter wind
Bright Star! would I were steadfast as thou art
Call for the robin-redbreast and the wren
Calm was the day, and through the trembling air
Captain, or Colonel, or Knight in Arms
Care-charmer Sleep, son of the sable Night
Come away, come away, death
Come live with me and be my Love
Crabbed Age and Youth
Cupid and my Campaspe play'd
Cyriack, whose grandsire, on the royal bench
Daughter of Jove, relentless power
Daughter to that good earl, once President
Degenerate Douglas! O the unworthy lord!
Diaphenia like the daffadowndilly
Doth then the world go thus, doth all thus move?
Down in yon garden sweet and gay
Drink to me only with thine eyes
Duncan Gray cam here to woo
Earl March look'd on his dying child
Earth has not anything to show more fair
Eternal Spirit of the chainless Mind!
Ethereal Minstrel! Pilgrim of the sky!
Ever let the Fancy roam
Fair Daffodils, we weep to see
Fair pledges of a fruitful tree
Farewell! thou art too dear for my possessing
Fear no more the heat o' the sun
For ever, Fortune, wilt thou prove
Forget not yet the tried intent
Four Seasons fill the measure of the year
From Harmony, from heavenly Harmony
From Stirling Castle we had seen
Full fathom five thy father lies
Gather ye rose-buds while ye may
Gem of the crimson-colour'd Even
Go fetch to me a pint o' wine
Go, lovely Rose!
Hail to thee, blithe Spirit!
Happy the man, whose wish and care
Happy those early days, when I
He is gone on the mountain
He that loves a rosy cheek
Hence, all you vain delights
Hence, loathéd Melancholy
Hence, vain deluding Joys
How delicious is the winning
How happy is he born and taught
How like a winter hath my absence been
How sleep the Brave, who sink to rest
How sweet the answer Echo makes
How vainly men themselves amaze
I am monarch of all I survey
I arise from dreams of thee
I dream'd that as I wander'd by the way
If aught of oaten stop or pastoral song
If doughty deeds my lady please
I fear thy kisses, gentle maiden
If Thou survive my well-contented day
If to be absent were to be
If women could be fair, and yet not fond
I have had playmates, I have had companions
I heard a thousand blended notes
I met a traveller from an antique land
I'm wearing awa', Jean
In a drear-nighted December
In the downhill of life, when I find I'm declining
In the sweet shire of Cardigan
I remember, I remember
I saw where in the shroud did lurk
It is a beauteous evening, calm and free
It is not Beauty I demand
It is not growing like a tree
I travell'd among unknown men
It was a lover and his lass
It was a summer evening
I've heard them lilting at our ewe-milking
I wander'd lonely as a cloud
I was thy neighbour once, thou rugged Pile!
I wish I were where Helen lies
John Anderson, my jo, John
Lawrence, of virtuous father virtuous son
Let me not to the marriage of true minds
Life! I know not what thou art
Life of Life! thy lips enkindle
Like as the waves make towards the pebbled shore
Like to the clear in highest sphere
Love not me for comely grace
Lo! where the rosy-bosom'd Hours
Many a green isle needs must be
Mary! I want a lyre with other strings
Milton! thou shouldst be living at this hour
Mine be a cot beside the hill
Mortality, behold and fear
Most sweet it is with unuplifted eyes
Much have I travell'd in the realms of gold
Music, when soft voices die
My days among the Dead are past
My heart aches, and a drowsy numbness pains
My heart leaps up when I behold
My Love in her attire doth show her wit
My lute, be as thou wert when thou didst grow
My thoughts hold mortal strife
My true-love hath my heart, and I have his
No longer mourn for me when I am dead
Not a drum was heard, not a funeral note
Not, Celia, that I juster am
Now the golden Morn aloft
Now the last day of many days
O blithe new-comer! I have heard
O Brignall banks are wild and fair
Of all the girls that are so smart
Of a' the airts the wind can blaw
Of Nelson and the North
O Friend! I know not which way I must look
Of this fair volume which we World do name
Oft in the stilly night
O if thou knew'st how thou thyself dost harm
Oh, lovers' eyes are sharp to see
Oh, snatch'd away in beauty's bloom!
O listen, listen, ladies gay!
O Mary, at thy window be
O me! what eyes hath love put in my head
O mistress mine, where are you roaming?
O my Luve's like a red, red rose
On a day, alack the day!
On a Poet's lips I slept
Once did She hold the gorgeous East in fee
One more Unfortunate
One word is too often profaned
O never say that I was false of heart
On Linden, when the sun was low
O saw ye bonnie Lesley
O say what is that thing call'd Light
O talk not to me of a name great in story
Our bugles sang truce, for the night-cloud had lower'd
Over the mountains
O waly waly up the bank
O what can ail thee, knight-at-arms
O Wild West Wind, thou breath of Autumn's being
O World! O Life! O Time!
Pack, clouds, away, and welcome day
Phoebus, arise!
Pibroch of Donuil Dhu
Poor Soul, the centre of my sinful earth
Proud Maisie is in the wood
Queen and Huntress, chaste and fair
Rarely, rarely, comest thou
Ruin seize thee, ruthless King!
Season of mists and mellow fruitfulness
Shall I compare thee to a summer's day?
Shall I, wasting in despair
She dwelt among the untrodden ways
She is not fair to outward view
She walks in beauty, like the night
She was a phantom of delight
Since brass, nor stone, nor earth, nor boundless sea
Since there's no help, come let us kiss and part
Sleep on, and dream of Heaven awhile
Souls of Poets dead and gone
Spring, the sweet Spring, is the year's pleasant king
Star that bringest home the bee
Stern Daughter of the voice of God!
Surprised by joy—impatient as the wind
Sweet, be not proud of those two eyes
Sweet Highland Girl, a very shower
Sweet stream, that winds through yonder glade
Swiftly walk over the western wave
Take, O take those lips away
Tax not the royal Saint with vain expense
Tell me not, Sweet, I am unkind
Tell me where is Fancy bred
That time of year thou may'st in me behold
That which her slender waist confined
The curfew tolls the knell of parting day
The forward youth that would appear
The fountains mingle with the river
The glories of our blood and state
The last and greatest Herald of Heaven's King
The lovely lass o' Inverness
The merchant, to secure his treasure
The more we live, more brief appear
The poplars are fell'd! farewell to the shade
The sun is warm, the sky is clear
The sun upon the lake is low
The twentieth year is well-nigh past
The World is too much with us; late and soon
The World's a bubble, and the Life of Man
There be none of Beauty's daughters
There is a flower, the lesser Celandine
There is a garden in her face
There's not a joy the world can give like that it takes away
There was a time when meadow, grove, and stream
They that have power to hurt, and will do none
This is the month, and this the happy morn
This life, which seems so fair
Three years she grew in sun and shower
Thy braes were bonnie, Yarrow stream
Thy hue, dear pledge, is pure and bright
Timely blossom, Infant fair
Tired with all these, for restful death I cry
Toll for the brave
To me, fair Friend, you never can be old
'Twas at the royal feast for Persia won
'Twas on a lofty vase's side
Two Voices are there, one is of the Sea
Under the greenwood tree
Verse, a breeze 'mid blossoms straying
Victorious men of earth, no more
Waken, lords and ladies gay
Wee, sleekit, cow'rin', tim'rous beastie
Were I as base as is the lowly plain
We talk'd with open heart, and tongue
We walk'd along, while bright and red
We watch'd her breathing thro' the night
Whenas in silks my Julia goes
When Britain first at Heaven's command
When first the fiery-mantled Sun
When God at first made Man
When he who adores thee has left but the name
When icicles hang by the wall
When I consider how my light is spent
When I have borne in memory what has tamed
When I have fears that I may cease to be
When I have seen by Time's fell hand defaced
When in disgrace with fortune and men's eyes
When in the chronicle of wasted time
When lovely woman stoops to folly
When Love with unconfined wings
When maidens such as Hester die
When Music, heavenly maid, was young
When Ruth was left half desolate
When the lamp is shatter'd
When the sheep are in the fauld, and the kye at hame
When to the sessions of sweet silent thought
When we two parted
Where art thou, my beloved Son
Where shall the lover rest
Where the remote Bermudas ride
While that the sun with his beams hot
Whoe'er she be
Why art thou silent? Is thy love a plant
Why, Damon, with the forward day
Why so pale and wan, fond lover?
Why weep ye by the tide, ladie?
With little here to do or see
Ye banks and braes and streams around
Ye banks and braes o' bonnie Doon
Ye distant spires, ye antique towers
Ye Mariners of England
Yes, there is holy pleasure in thine eye!
Yet once more, O ye laurels, and once more
You meaner beauties of the night
Corrections to Collins edition:
Poem 143—"W. COUPER" to "W. COWPER"
Poem 274—"like a green see" to "like a green sea"
Poem 280—"woful Ere" to "woeful Ere"
Palgrave's Notes—Poem 62: "mythe" to "myth"
Palgrave's Notes—Poem 85: "Parliamant" to "Parliament"
Palgrave's Notes—Poem 140: "Acolian lyre" to "Aeolian lyre"
Palgrave's Notes—Poem 140: "were Cytheria" to "where Cytheria"
Palgrave's Notes—Poem 275: "Geeek" to "Greek"