‘Follow thy fair sun, unhappy shadow!’
And a single joy in this—
‘Oh, what unhoped-for sweet supply!’
Another solitary line is one that by its splendour proves Campion the author of Cherry Ripe—
‘A thousand cherubim fly in her looks.’
And yet ‘a thousand cherubim’ is a line of a poem full of the dullest kind of reasoning—curious matter for music—and of the intricate knotting of what is a very simple thread of thought. It was therefore no easy matter to choose something of Campion’s for a collection of the finest work. For an historical book of representative poetry the question would be easy enough, for there Campion should appear by his glorious lyric, Cherry Ripe, by one or two poems of profounder imagination (however imperfect), and by a madrigal written for the music (however the stanzas may flag in their quibbling). But the work of choosing among his lyrics for the sake of beauty shows too clearly the inequality, the brevity of the inspiration, and the poet’s absolute disregard of the moment of its flight and departure.
A few splendid lines may be reason enough for extracting a short poem, but must not be made to bear too great a burden.
When thou must Home.—Page [50].
Of the quality of this imaginative lyric there is no doubt. It is fine throughout, as we confess even after the greatness of the opening:—
‘When thou must home to shades of underground,
And there arrived, a new admired guest—’