in the recurrence of the same
rhyme. For information on the generally overlooked but primarily important
function of catalexis in English verse I refer such readers as may be
curious about the subject to the Essay printed as an appendix to the later
editions of my collected poems.

I do not pretend to have done more than very moderate justice to the
exceeding grace and dignity and the inexhaustible expressiveness of which
this kind of metre is capable; but I can say that I have never attempted to
write in it in the absence of that one justification of and prime
qualification for its use, namely, the impulse of some thought that
"voluntary moved harmonious numbers."

COVENTRY PATMORE.
HASTINGS, 1890.

CONTENTS

TO THE UNKNOWN EROS, ETC.

PROEM.

BOOK I.

I. SAINT VALENTINE'S DAY
II. WIND AND WAVE
III. WINTER
IV. BEATA
V. THE DAY AFTER TO-MORROW
VI. TRISTITIA
VII. THE AZALEA
VIII. DEPARTURE
IX. EURYDICE
X. THE TOYS
XI. TIRED MEMORY
XII. MAGNA EST VERITAS
XIII. 1867
XIV. 'IF I WERE DEAD'
XV. PEACE
XVI. A FAREWELL
XVII. 1880-85.
XVIII. THE TWO DESERTS
XIX. CREST AND GULF
XX. 'LET BE!'
XXI. 'FAINT YET PURSUING'
XXII. VICTORY IN DEFEAT
XVIII. REMEMBERED GRACE
XXIV. VESICA PISCIS

BOOK II.

I. TO THE UNKNOWN EROS
II. THE CONTRACT
III. ARBOR VITAE
IV. THE STANDARDS
V. SPONSA DEI
VI. LEGEM TUAM DILEXI
VII. TO THE BODY
VIII. 'SING US ONE OF THE SONGS OF SION'
IX. DELICIAE SAPIENTIAE DE AMORE
X. THE CRY AT MIDNIGHT
XI. AURAS OF DELIGHT
XII. EROS AND PSYCHE
XIII. DE NATURA DEORUM
XIV. PSYCHE'S DISCONTENT
XV. PAIN
XVI. PROPHETS WHO CANNOT SING
XVII. THE CHILD'S PURCHASE
XVIII. DEAD LANGUAGE

AMELIA, ETC.

AMELIA
L'ALLEGRO
REGINA COELI
THE OPEN SECRET
VENUS AND DEATH
MIGNONNE
ALEXANDER AND LYCON
SEMELE

THE UNKNOWN EROS

"Deliciae meae esse cum filiis hominum."
PROV. VIII. 31.

PROEM.

'Many speak wisely, some inerrably:
Witness the beast who talk'd that should have bray'd,
And Caiaphas that said
Expedient 'twas for all that One should die;
But what avails
When Love's right accent from their wisdom fails,
And the Truth-criers know not what they cry!
Say, wherefore thou,
As under bondage of some bitter vow,
Warblest no word,
When all the rest are shout