FREE BOOKS

Author's List




PREV.   NEXT  
|<   97   98   99   100   101   102   103   104   105   106   107   108   109   110   111   112   113   114   115   116   117   118   119   120   121  
122   123   124   125   126   127   128   129   130   131   132   133   134   135   136   137   138   139   140   141   142   143   >>  
not for its poetry, but for the light it casts upon the circle of his English friends. You are now In London, that great sea, whose ebb and flow At once is deaf and loud, and on the shore Vomits its wrecks, and still howls on for more. Yet in its depth what treasures! You will see That which was Godwin,--greater none than he Though fallen--and fallen on evil times--to stand Among the spirits of our age and land, Before the dread tribunal of "To come" The foremost, while Rebuke cowers pale and dumb. You will see Coleridge--he who sits obscure In the exceeding lustre and the pure Intense irradiation of a mind, Which, with its own internal lightning blind, Flags wearily through darkness and despair-- A cloud-encircled meteor of the air, A hooded eagle among blinking owls. You will see Hunt; one of those happy souls Which are the salt of the earth, and without whom This world would smell like what it is--a tomb; Who is, what others seem. His room no doubt Is still adorned by many a cast from Shout, With graceful flowers tastefully placed about, And coronals of bay from ribbons hung, And brighter wreaths in neat disorder flung; The gifts of the most learn'd among some dozens Of female friends, sisters-in-law, and cousins. And there is he with his eternal puns, Which beat the dullest brain for smiles, like duns Thundering for money at a poet's door; Alas! it is no use to say, "I'm poor!"-- Or oft in graver mood, when he will look Things wiser than were ever read in book, Except in Shakespere's wisest tenderness. You will see Hogg; and I cannot express His virtues, though I know that they are great, Because he locks, then barricades the gate Within which they inhabit. Of his wit And wisdom, you'll cry out when you are bit. He is a pearl within an oyster-shell, One of the richest of the deep. And there Is English Peacock, with his mountain fair,-- Turn'd into a Flamingo, that shy bird That gleams in the Indian air. Have you not heard When a man marries, dies, or turns Hindoo, His best friends hear no more of him. But you Will see him, and will like him too, I hope, With the milk-white Snowdownian antelope Match'd with this camelopard. His fine wit Makes such a wound, the knife is lost in it; A strain too learn
PREV.   NEXT  
|<   97   98   99   100   101   102   103   104   105   106   107   108   109   110   111   112   113   114   115   116   117   118   119   120   121  
122   123   124   125   126   127   128   129   130   131   132   133   134   135   136   137   138   139   140   141   142   143   >>  



Top keywords:

friends

 

fallen

 

English

 
Shakespere
 
Except
 

wisest

 
tenderness
 

express

 

virtues

 

dozens


sisters
 

female

 

Things

 

smiles

 

dullest

 
Thundering
 

graver

 

cousins

 

eternal

 
Hindoo

marries

 
strain
 

camelopard

 

Snowdownian

 

antelope

 

Indian

 

gleams

 
wisdom
 

inhabit

 

Within


Because

 

barricades

 

Flamingo

 

mountain

 

Peacock

 

oyster

 

richest

 

Before

 

tribunal

 

spirits


foremost

 

exceeding

 

obscure

 

lustre

 

Intense

 

cowers

 
Rebuke
 

Coleridge

 

Though

 

London