A Household Book of English Poetry: Selected and Arranged with Notes

American poetry; English poetry

What is the existence of man’s life
    But open war, or slumbered strife?
    Where sickness to his sense presents
    The combat of the elements;
    And never feels a perfect peace,                                   5
    Till death’s cold hand signs his release.

    It is a storm, where the hot blood
    Outvies in rage the boiling flood;
    And each loud passion of the mind
    Is like a furious gust of wind,                                   10
    Which bears his bark with many a wave,
    Till he casts anchor in the grave.

    It is a flower, which buds and grows,
    And withers as the leaves disclose;
    Whose spring and fall faint seasons keep,                         15
    Like fits of waking before sleep:
    Then shrinks into that fatal mould
    Where its first being was enrolled.

    It is a dream, whose seeming truth
    Is moralized in age and youth:                                    20
    Where all the comforts he can share
    As wandering as his fancies are;
    Till in the mist of dark decay
    The dreamer vanish quite away.

    It is a dial, which points out                                    25
    The sunset, as it moves about:
    And shadows out in lines of night
    The subtle stages of time’s flight,
    Till all-obscuring earth hath laid
    The body in perpetual shade.                                      30

    It is a weary interlude,
    Which doth short joys, long woes include;
    The world the stage, the prologue tears,
    The acts vain hope, and varied fears:
    The scene shuts up with loss of breath,                           35
    And leaves no epilogue but death.
              _Henry King._




CIX

_PARAPHRASE FROM SENECA._


    Let him that will, ascend the tottering seat
    Of courtly grandeur, and become as great
    As are his mounting wishes: as for me,
    Let sweet repose and rest my portion be;
    Give me some mean obscure recess, a sphere                         5
    Out of the road of business, or the fear
    Of falling lower; where I sweetly may
    Myself and dear retirement still enjoy:
    Let not my life or name be known unto
    The grandees of the time, tost to and fro                         10
    By censures or applause; but let my age
    Slide gently by; not overthwart the stage
    Of public action; unheard, unseen,
    And unconcerned, as if I ne’er had been.
    And thus, while I shall pass my silent days                       15
    In shady privacy, free from the noise
    And bustles of the mad world, then shall I
    A good old innocent plebeian die.
    Death is a mere surprise, a very snare
    To him, that makes it his life’s greatest care                    20
    To be a public pageant; known to all,
    But unacquainted with himself, doth fall.
              _Sir Matthew Hale._




CX

_VANISHED BLESSINGS._

Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.

Opening the text

General

A Household Book of English Poetry: Selected and Arranged with Notes

American poetry; English poetry

What is the existence of man’s life
    But open war, or slumbered strife?
    Where sickness to his sense presents
    The combat of the elements;
    And never feels a perfect peace,                                   5
    Till death’s cold hand signs his release.

    It is a storm, where the hot blood
    Outvies in rage the boiling flood;
    And each loud passion of the mind
    Is like a furious gust of wind,                                   10
    Which bears his bark with many a wave,
    Till he casts anchor in the grave.

    It is a flower, which buds and grows,
    And withers as the leaves disclose;
    Whose spring and fall faint seasons keep,                         15
    Like fits of waking before sleep:
    Then shrinks into that fatal mould
    Where its first being was enrolled.

    It is a dream, whose seeming truth
    Is moralized in age and youth:                                    20
    Where all the comforts he can share
    As wandering as his fancies are;
    Till in the mist of dark decay
    The dreamer vanish quite away.

    It is a dial, which points out                                    25
    The sunset, as it moves about:
    And shadows out in lines of night
    The subtle stages of time’s flight,
    Till all-obscuring earth hath laid
    The body in perpetual shade.                                      30

    It is a weary interlude,
    Which doth short joys, long woes include;
    The world the stage, the prologue tears,
    The acts vain hope, and varied fears:
    The scene shuts up with loss of breath,                           35
    And leaves no epilogue but death.
              _Henry King._




CIX

_PARAPHRASE FROM SENECA._


    Let him that will, ascend the tottering seat
    Of courtly grandeur, and become as great
    As are his mounting wishes: as for me,
    Let sweet repose and rest my portion be;
    Give me some mean obscure recess, a sphere                         5
    Out of the road of business, or the fear
    Of falling lower; where I sweetly may
    Myself and dear retirement still enjoy:
    Let not my life or name be known unto
    The grandees of the time, tost to and fro                         10
    By censures or applause; but let my age
    Slide gently by; not overthwart the stage
    Of public action; unheard, unseen,
    And unconcerned, as if I ne’er had been.
    And thus, while I shall pass my silent days                       15
    In shady privacy, free from the noise
    And bustles of the mad world, then shall I
    A good old innocent plebeian die.
    Death is a mere surprise, a very snare
    To him, that makes it his life’s greatest care                    20
    To be a public pageant; known to all,
    But unacquainted with himself, doth fall.
              _Sir Matthew Hale._




CX

_VANISHED BLESSINGS._

Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.

A Household Book of English Poetry: Selected and Arranged with Notes

A Household Book of English Poetry: Selected and Arranged with Notes

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