A BETTER RESURRECTION I have no wit, no words, no tears; My heart within me like a stone My life is like a faded leaf, My harvest dwindled to a husk; Truly my life is void and brief And tedious in the barren dusk; My life is like a frozen thing, No bud nor greenness can I see: Yet rise it shall, the sap of Spring; O Jesu, rise in me! My life is like a broken bowl, A broken bowl that cannot hold Or cordial in the searching cold; Christina Georgina Rossetti AT A SOLEMN MUSIC Blest pair of Sirens, pledges of Heaven's joy, With saintly shout and solemn jubilee ; That we on Earth, with undiscording voice Jarr'd against nature's chime, and with harsh din To their great Lord, whose love their motion sway'd In perfect diapason, whilst they stood In first obedience, and their state of good. O may we soon again renew that Song, And keep in tune with Heaven, till God ere long To live with Him, and sing in endless morn of light! John Milton NEW YEAR'S EVE Ring out, wild bells, to the wild sky, Ring out the old, ring in the new; Ring out the grief that saps the mind, Ring out a slowly dying cause, And ancient forms of party strife; Ring in the nobler modes of life, With sweeter manners, purer laws. Ring out false pride in place and blood, Ring out old shapes of foul disease, Ring in the valiant man and free, The larger heart, the kindlier hand; Ring out the darkness of the land, Ring in the Christ that is to be. Alfred Tennyson NOTES Page 1. "The Noble Nature." These lines are part of a lengthy ode: "To the Immortal Memory and Friendship of that Noble Pair, Sir Lucius Cary and Sir H. Morison." 3. "On the Castle of Chillon." The reference is to Bonnivard, the Genevese, who was imprisoned during the early years of the seventeenth century in Chillon, on Lake Geneva. His only crime was his heroic defence of his country against the tyranny of Piedmont. 6. "Old Age and Death." From "Verses upon His Divine Poesy." 8. " 'John Anderson." Jo, sweetheart; brent, smooth; pow, head. 9. "The Land o' the Leal." Leal, faithful; fain, happy. IO. "Comin' through the Rye." Gin, if, should. 12. "Lines," etc. Found in Raleigh's Bible after his death; this on excellent if not conclusive testimony. 15. "Life." Extract from a longer poem, though usually printed by itself. Wordsworth so admired these lines that he expressed the wish he had himself written them. 16. "Afton Water." Afton is a small river that flows into the Nith, near New Cumnock. 16. 66 Jenny Kissed Me." A pretty story associates the Jenny of these lines with Jane Welsh Carlyle. 66 20. "Dirge." The concluding stanza of this famous dirge from "Cymbeline" is omitted. Thunder-stone, thunder-bolt; consign to thee, "seal the same contract with thee, i. e., add their names to thine upon the register of death," (Steevens). 66 22. 'Oh, Wert Thou in the Cauld Blast." Bield, shelter. 25. "The Retreat." Suggests comparisons at once with Wordsworth's "Ode on Immortality." 26. "Bonnie Doon." 27. "At the Church Gate." The poem written by Arthur Pendennis for the "Spring Annual." See "Pendennis," chapter xxxi. Ilka, every. 30. "To the Moon." Mr. Saintsbury calls this, "The first perfectly charming sonnet in the English language." ("Eliza bethan Literature," p. 102.) The last line is rendered obscure by transposition. It means, Do they call ungratefulness a virtue there? 31. "Annie Laurie." Gowan, wild daisy. 33. "Rest." These lines are said to have been found under the pillow of a wounded soldier near Port Royal, S. C., in 1864. 35. Recessional." Written for the Queen's Jubilee, and contributed to the London Times, July 17, 1897. The Spectator said, "In his Recessional' Mr. Kipling has interpreted the feeling of the nation with an insight and a force which are truly marvellous." 66 40. My Wife's a Winsome Wee Thing." Warstle, wrestle. 44. "A Poet's Hope." Concluding stanzas of a lengthy poem. 45. "The Port of Ships." Four stanzas of Miller's wellknown poem, "Columbus." 66 46. Dirge for a Soldier." Philip Kearney. Written in memory of General 50. "To Mary Unwin." Mrs. Unwin was a friend of Cowper's, several years older than the poet, with whom he lived on terms of closest platonic intimacy for about twenty years. The story of their blameless love and mutual devotion forms one of the most beautiful chapters in literary history. 51. "A Farewell." Tassie, a cup; Berwick-Law, “a conspicuous height in Haddingtonshire, overlooking the Firth of Forth." 52. 66 Highland Mary." Drumlie, muddy, turbid; birk, birch. 55. "On the Late Massacre in Piedmont." The Vaudois persecution (1655). 56. "Sesostris." An Egyptian king, by some associated with One of the most imaginative sonnets yet written Rameses II. in America. 60. For a' That and a' That." Birkie, conceited fellow; gree, prize. 62. "The Angler's Wish." Kenna, the name of his supposed mistress, formed from the maiden name of Walton's second wife, Ken. Shawford brook, "the name of that part of the river Sow that runs through the land which Walton bequeathed to the Corporation of Stafford to find coals for the poor. The right of fishery attaches to the little estate." (Sir H. Nicolas.) Bryan, name of his favourite dog. 64. "Bannock-Burn." Bannockburn is a village in Stirlingshire, Scotland, where, June 24, 1314, the Scots under Robert Bruce totally defeated the English under Edward II. 66 73. Song." Cockle hat, "hat decorated with cockles or scallop-shells, which were worn by pilgrims as the badge of their vocation" (Schelling); larded, garnished. 79. "Hymn to the Spirit of Nature." The hymn to Asia in "Prometheus Unbound." |