Literary Tours in The Highlands and Islands of ScotlandHolmes, Daniel Turner
History
Literary Tours in The Highlands and Islands of Scotland
Holmes, Daniel Turner
Scottish literature -- History and criticism
A form of beauty blent with hardihood,
Majestic as Olympus wreathed in snows,
What modern pages of romance disclose
A radiant maiden of such dauntless mood!
Yet, when the tyrant strives with outrage rude
The unyielding maid in darkness to enclose,
Then, only then, her burning heart outflows
In anguished cries of love, but unsubdued
By baser throbbings. Ah! that nuptial hymn
Unsung! that bond in death! All men agree
To crown thee in that chamber dark and dim
With love's immortal wreath, Antigoné.
Since love and duty in thy death combine,
An immortality of praise is thine.
VI.
SHADOWS OF THE MANSE.
I.
Lo! we have him of shaven face
And curls of long and lustrous hair,
Who breathes an atmosphere of grace
And has a wondrous gift in prayer.
You'd ne'er suspect to see him there,
Shaking his head in solemn guise,
_The college life of deil-may-care
Diversion that behind him lies_.
II.
And then the little starveling pope
Who strives to make his sermons new
By stringing florid scraps of hope
And faith and love to dazzle you:
From Stopford Brooke a phrase or two,
A gleaming line from Arnold's page,
Whole screeds of Browning and a few
Stolen thunders from the Chelsea sage.
III.
Perhaps the most diverting wight
Is he who sees in Holy Writ
Old Jewish fables gross and trite
To semblance of a system knit--
Fables for modern taste unfit,
Until _he_ cleans the dross away
And shows the tiny little bit
Of gold that gleams amid the clay.
IV.
But worst of all is he who jests,
Or tries to jest, in pulpit gown,
Lord, save us from such holy pests
Who so unseemly act the clown
And pull the tabernacle down
To something worse than pantomime:
On all such zanies let us frown
And scourge them both in prose and rhyme.
VII.
"MY HEART'S IN THE HIGHLANDS."
Puzzling over musty tomes,
What a life to lead,
While each gay companion roams
Where his fancies lead!
One beside a shady pool
Sweeps the wave for hours,
Comes home with his basket full,
When the evening lowers.
Some more energetic wights
Leave the level land,
Mountaineer on dizzy heights,
Alpenstock in hand.
Others boat in sunny bays
Where bright sands are seen
Glimmering amid a maze
Of tangled flowers marine.
Luck to all is what I wish
With a meed of fun,
I'll row, mountaineer, and fish,
When _your_ sports are done.
VIII.
SADDELL
(KINTYRE).
Fresh gusts of wind ripple the ocean's face,
And the green slopes, after the night's soft rain,
Glitter beneath the blue.
Most glorious are the sea-descending glens,
Vivid with countless ferns, and with the blaze
Of sun-enamoured broom.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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