Lesson 12 Short Selections in Poetry

I. THE CLOUD.

A cloudlay cradlednearthe setting sun,

A gleam of crimson tinged its braided snow;

Long hadI watchedthe glory moving on,

O'er the still radiance of the lake below:

Tranquil its spirit seemed,andfloatedslow,

E'en in its very motion there was rest,

While everybreathofeve that chancedtoblow,

Wafted the traveler to the beauteous west.

Emblem, methought,ofthe departed soul,

To whose white robe the gleam of bliss is given,

And by thebreathofmercy made to roll

Right onward to the golden gate of heaven,

While to the eye offaithitpeaceful lies,

And tells to man his glorious destinies.

—John Wilson.

I I. MY MIND.

My mindto me akingdomis;

Such perfect joy therein I find,

As far exceeds all earthlybliss

That God or nature hath assigned;

Though much I wantthatmostwouldhave,

Yet still my mind forbids to crave.

I I I. A GOOD NAME.

Good name, in man or woman, dear my lord,

Is the immediate jewel of their souls.

Who steals my purse, steals trash; 'tis something, nothing;

'Twas mine, 'tis his, and has been slave to thousands;

But he that filches from me my good name,

Robs me of that which not enriches him,

And makes me poor indeed.

Shakespeare.—Othello, Act III, Scene III.

IV. SUNRISE.

But yonder comes the powerful king of day,

Rejoicing in the east. The lessening cloud,

The kindling azure, and the mountain's brow

Illumed with liquid gold, his near approach

Betoken glad. Lo! now apparent all,

Aslant the dew-bright earth and colored air

He looks in boundless majesty abroad,

And sheds the shining day that, burnished, plays

On rocks, and hills, and towers, and wandering streams,

High gleaming from afar.

Thomson.

V. OLD AGE AND DEATH.

Edmund Waller, 1605-1687, an English poet, was a cousin of John Hampden, and related to Oliver Cromwell. He was educated at Eton and Cambridge. Waller was for many years a member of Parliament. He took part in the civil war, and was detected in a treasonable plot. Several years of his life were spent in exile in France. After the Restoration he came into favor at court. His poetry is celebrated for smoothness and sweetness, but is disfigured by affected conceits.

The seas are quiet when the winds give o'er;

So calm are we when passions are no more.

For then we know how vain it was to boast

Of fleeting things, too certain to be lost.

Clouds of affection from our younger eyes

Conceal that emptiness which age descries.

The soul's dark cottage, battered and decayed,

Lets in new light through chinks that time has made:

Stronger by weakness, wiser men become,

As they draw near to their eternal home.

Leaving the old, both worlds at once they view,

That stand upon the threshold of the new.

VI. MILTON.

John Dryden, 1631-1703, was a noted English writer, who was made poet laureate by James II. On the expulsion of James, and the accession of William and Mary, Dryden lost his offices and pension, and was compelled to earn his bread by literary work. It was during these last years of his life that his best work was done. His "Ode for St. Cecilia's Day" is one of his most, celebrated poems. His prose writings are specimens of good, strong English.

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 other two.