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Gleanings from the Harvest-Fields of Literature: A Melange of Excerpta — John Shaqi

Gleanings from the Harvest-Fields of Literature: A Melange of Excerpta

General

Gleanings from the Harvest-Fields of Literature: A Melange of Excerpta

Literary curiosa; Literature -- Dictionaries

A successful attempt has recently been made to use this form of verse
for conveying useful information and expressing agreeable reflections,
in a volume containing a series of acrostics on eminent names,
commencing with Homer, and descending chronologically to our own time.
The alphabetic necessity of the choice of words and epithets has not
hindered the writer from giving distinct and generally correct character
to the biographical subjects, as may be seen in the following
selections, which are as remarkable for the truth and discrimination of
the descriptions as for the ingenuity of the diction:


                            GEORGE HERBERT.

               G ood Country Parson, cheerful, quaint,
               E ver in thy life a saint,
               O ’er thy memory sweetly rise
               R are old Izaak’s eulogies,
               G iving us, in life-drawn hue,
               E ach loved feature to our view.

               H oly Herbert, humble, mild,
               E ’en as simple as a child,
               R eady thy bounty to dispense,
               B eaming with benevolence,
               E ver blessing, ever blest,
               R escuing the most distrest;
               T hy “Temple” now is Heaven’s bright rest.


                                DRYDEN.

            D eep rolls on deep in thy majestic line.
            R ich music and the stateliest march combine;
            Y et, who that hears its high harmonious strain
            D eems not thy genius thou didst half profane?
            E xhausting thy great power of song on themes
            N ot worthy of its strong, effulgent beams.


                               REYNOLDS.

           R are Painter! whose unequall’d skill could trace
           E ach light and shadow of the changeful face;
           Y oung “Samuel’s,” now, beaming with piety,
           N ow the proud “Banished Lord’s” dark misery,
           O r “Ugolino’s” ghastly visage, wild,
           L ooking stern horror on each starving child;
           D elights not less of social sort were thine,
           S uch as with Burke, or e’en with Johnson shine.


                                 BURKE.

          B rilliant thy genius ’mongst a brilliant throng;
          U nique thy eloquence of pen and tongue;
          R ome’s Tully loftier flights could scarce command,
          K indling thy soul to thoughts that matchless stand
          E ver sublime and beautiful and grand.


                                 HUBER.

         H ow keen thy vision, e’en though reft of sight!
         U sing with double power the mind’s clear light:
         B ees, and their hives, thy curious ken has scanned.
         E ach cell, with geometric wisdom planned,
         R ich stores of honeyed knowledge thus at thy command.


                                CRABBE.

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

Gleanings from the Harvest-Fields of Literature: A Melange of Excerpta

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