Original Sonnets on Various Subjects: And Odes Paraphrased from Horace: by Anna Seward

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G. Sael; and sold, 1799 - 179 pages
 

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Page 121 - A laugh, half-fmother'd, thy pleas'd ear mall meet, And, fportive in the charming wiles of love, Betray the. artifice of coy retreat; And then the ring, or, from her fnowy arm, The promis'd bracelet may thy force employ ; Her feign'd reluctance, height'ning every charm.
Page 17 - Evening fhines in May's luxuriant pride, And all the funny hills at diftance glow, And all the brooks that thro' the Valley flow, Seem liquid gold.
Page 120 - To-morrow's deffiny the gods command ; To-day is thine — enjoy it, and be wife. Youth's radiant tide too fwiftly rolls away ! — Now, in its flow, let pleafures round thee bloom ; Join the gay dance, awake the melting lay Ere hoary...
Page 66 - ... poet, who the sonnet's claim, Severest of the orders that belong Distinct and separate to the Delphic Song, Shall venerate, nor its appropriate name Lawless assume. Peculiar is its frame, From him derived, who shunned the city throng, And warbled sweet thy rocks and streams among, Lonely Valclusa! — and that heir of fame...
Page 56 - Of the crowj'd warrior ; for the royal brows The people firft enwreath'd they are the root, The King the tree. Aloft he fpreads his boughs Glorious: — but learn, impetuous youth, at length, Trees from the root alone derive their ftrength.
Page 43 - Come, that I may not hear the winds of night, Nor count the heavy eave-drops as they fall.' " You have well characterised the poetic powers of this lady; but, after all, her verses please me, with all their faults, better than those of Mrs. Barbauld, who, with much higher powers of mind, was spoiled as a poetess by being a dissenter, and concerned with a dissenting academy.
Page 73 - Her garish ribbons, smeared with dust and rain; But brain-sick visions cheat her tortured mind, And bring false peace. Thus, lulling grief and pain, Kind dreams oblivious from thy juice proceed, Thou flimsy, showy, melancholy weed.
Page 20 - Full-orb'd she shines. Half sunk within its cove Heaves the lone boat, with gulphing sound : — and lo ! Bright rolls the settling lake, and brimming rove The vale's blue rills, and glitter as they flow ! SONNET XIX.
Page 17 - ... varying progress, for the woe .. . My heart has felt, what balm had been supplied...
Page 97 - ... the waters, and, with solemn roar. Vast billows into caverns surging pour, And back recede alternate ; while combined Loud shriek the seafowls, harbingers assign'd, Clamorous and fearful of the stormy hour ; To listen with deep thought those awful sounds ; Gaze on the boiling, the tumultuous waste, Or promontory rude, or craggy mounds Staying the furious main, delight has cast O'er my rapt spirits, and my thrilling heart, Dear as the softer joys green vales impart.

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