RETIREMENT
Composed 1827.—Published 1827
One of the "Miscellaneous Sonnets."—Ed.
If the whole weight of what we think and feel,
Save only far as thought and feeling blend
With action, were as nothing, patriot Friend!
From thy remonstrance would be no appeal;
But to promote and fortify the weal 5
Of our own Being is her paramount end;
A truth which they alone shall comprehend
Who shun the mischief which they cannot heal.
Peace in these feverish times is sovereign bliss:
Here, with no thirst but what the stream can slake, 10
And startled only by the rustling brake,
Cool air I breathe; while the unincumbered Mind,
By some weak aims at services assigned
To gentle Natures, thanks not Heaven amiss.
"THERE IS A PLEASURE IN POETIC PAINS"
Composed 1827.—Published 1827
One of the "Miscellaneous Sonnets."—Ed.
There is a pleasure in poetic pains
Which only Poets know;[471]—'twas rightly said;
Whom could the Muses else allure to tread
Their smoothest paths, to wear their lightest chains?
When happiest Fancy has inspired the strains, 5
How oft the malice of one luckless word
Pursues the Enthusiast to the social board,
Haunts him belated on the silent plains!
Yet he repines not, if his thought stand clear,
At last, of hindrance and obscurity, 10
Fresh as the star that crowns the brow of morn;
Bright, speckless, as a softly-moulded tear
The moment it has left the virgin's eye,
Or rain-drop lingering on the pointed thorn.
FOOTNOTES:
[471] See Cowper's Task, book ii. l. 285.—Ed.
RECOLLECTION OF THE PORTRAIT OF KING HENRY EIGHTH, TRINITY LODGE, CAMBRIDGE[472]
Composed 1827.—Published 1827
One of the "Miscellaneous Sonnets."—Ed.
The imperial Stature, the colossal stride,
Are yet before me; yet do I behold
The broad full visage, chest of amplest mould,
The vestments 'broidered with barbaric pride:
And lo! a poniard, at the Monarch's side, 5
Hangs ready to be grasped in sympathy
With the keen threatenings of that fulgent eye,
Below the white-rimmed bonnet, far-descried.
Who trembles now at thy capricious mood?
'Mid those surrounding Worthies, haughty King, 10
We rather think, with grateful mind sedate,
How Providence educeth, from the spring
Of lawless will, unlooked-for streams of good,
Which neither force shall check nor time abate!
FOOTNOTES:
[472] Trinity College, Cambridge, was founded by King Henry VIII. in 1546, on the site of King's Hall, founded by Edward III. in 1337. Two of the gateways of the latter remain, as parts of the great court of Trinity. Over one of these—the King's or entrance gate way—the statue of Henry VIII. is erected. The portrait, described in the sonnet, is in the Hall of the College.—Ed.
["WHEN PHILOCTETES IN THE LEMNIAN ISLE"]
Composed 1827.—Published 1827
One of the "Miscellaneous Sonnets."—Ed.
When Philoctetes in the Lemnian isle[473]
Like a Form sculptured on a monument
Lay couched; on him or his dread bow unbent[474]
Some wild Bird oft might settle and beguile
The rigid features of a transient smile, 5
Disperse the tear, or to the sigh give vent,
Slackening the pains of ruthless banishment
From his lov'd home, and from heroic toil.
And trust[475] that spiritual Creatures round us move,
Griefs to allay which[476] Reason cannot heal; 10
Yea, veriest[477] reptiles have sufficed to prove
To fettered wretchedness, that no Bastile[478]
Is deep enough to exclude the light of love,
Though man for brother man has ceased to feel.
FOOTNOTES:
[473] The original title of this sonnet in MS. was Suggested by the same Incident (referring to the previous sonnet); and its original form, with one line awanting, was as follows:—
When Philoctetes, in the Lemnian Isle
Reclined with shaggy forehead earthward bent,
Lay silent like a weed-grown Monument,
Such Friend, for such brief moment as a smile
Asks to be born and die in, might beguile
The wounded Chief of pining discontent
From home affections, and heroic toil.
Seen, or unseen, beneath us, or above,
Are Powers that soften anguish, if not heal;
And toads and spiders have sufficed to prove
To fettered wretchedness that no Bastile
Is deep enough to exclude the light of Love,
Though man for Brother man have ceased to feel.
Philoctetes, one of the Argonauts, received from the dying Hercules his arrows. Called by Menelaus to go with the Greeks to the Trojan war, he was sent to the island of Lemnos, owing to a wound in his foot. There he remained for ten years, till the oracle informed the Greeks that Troy could not be taken without the arrows of Hercules. The sonnet refers to the legend of his life in Lemnos.—Ed.
[474] 1837.
... isle
Lay couched; upon that breathless Monument,
On him, or on his fearful bow unbent, 1827.
[475] 1837.
From home affections, and heroic toil.
Nor doubt ... 1827.
[476] 1837.
... that ... 1827.
[477] 1837.
And very ... 1827.
[478] Compare the sonnet To Toussaint l'Ouverture (vol. ii. p. 339).—Ed.
["WHILE ANNA'S PEERS AND EARLY PLAYMATES TREAD"]
Composed 1827.—Published 1827
[This is taken from the account given by Miss Jewsbu̇ry of the pleasure she derived, when long confined to her bed by sickness, from the inanimate object on which this sonnet turns.—I.F.]
One of the "Miscellaneous Sonnets."—Ed.
While Anna's peers[479] and early playmates tread,
In freedom, mountain-turf and river's marge;[480]
Or float with music in the festal barge;
Rein the proud steed, or through the dance are led;
Her doom it is[481] to press a weary bed— 5
Till oft her guardian Angel, to some charge
More urgent called, will stretch his wings at large,
And friends too rarely prop the languid head.
Yet, helped by Genius—untired comforter,[482]
The presence even of a stuffed Owl for her 10
Can cheat the time; sending her fancy out
To ivied castles and to moonlight skies,
Though he can neither stir a plume, nor shout;
Nor veil, with restless film, his staring eyes.
FOOTNOTES:
[479] Anna Jewsbury, afterwards Mrs. William Fletcher. Compare Liberty, in this volume, stanza 1, and the note (p. [222]).—Ed.
[480] 1837.
While they, her Playmates once, light-hearted tread
The mountain turf and river's flowery marge; 1827.
While they, who once were Anna's Playmates, tread
The mountain turf and river's flowery marge; 1832.
[481] 1832.
Is Anna doomed ... 1827.
[482] 1837.
Yet Genius is no feeble comforter: 1827.