The Pleasures of Hope: With Other Poems

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Longman, Hurst, Rees, Orme, and Brown, 1822 - English fiction - 144 pages
This is a traditional 18th century didactic poem in heroic couplets.

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Page 32 - Come, bright Improvement ! on the car of Time, And rule the spacious world from clime to clime ; Thy handmaid arts shall every wild explore, Trace every wave, and culture every shore.
Page 12 - ... glittering hills below, Why to yon mountain turns the musing eye, Whose sunbright summit mingles with the sky ? Why do those cliffs of shadowy tint appear More sweet than all the landscape smiling near ?'Tis distance lends enchantment to the view, And robes the mountain in its azure hue. Thus, with delight we linger to survey The promised joys of life's unmeasured way, Thus, from afar, each dim-discovered scene More pleasing seems than all the past hath been, And every form that Fancy can repair...
Page 15 - Now far he sweeps, where scarce a summer smiles, On Behring's rocks, or Greenland's naked isles : Cold on his midnight watch the breezes blow, From wastes that slumber in eternal snow ; And waft, across the waves' tumultuous roar, The wolf's long howl from Oonalaska's shore.
Page 74 - Unfading HOPE ! when life's last embers burn, When soul to soul, and dust to dust return ! . Heaven to thy charge resigns the awful hour ! Oh ! then, thy kingdom comes ! Immortal Power ! What though each spark of earth-born rapture fly The quivering lip, pale cheek, and closing eye t Bright to the soul thy seraph hands convey The morning dream of life's eternal day...
Page 49 - Could mock the groans of fellow-men, and bear The curse of kingdoms peopled with despair ! Could stamp disgrace on man's polluted name, And barter, with their gold, eternal shame ! But hark ! as bow'd to earth the Bramin kneels, From heavenly climes propitious thunder peals ! Of India's fate her guardian spirits tell, Prophetic murmurs breathing on the shell, And solemn sounds, that awe the listening mind, Roll on the azure paths of every wind.
Page 24 - The proud, the cold untroubled heart of stone, That never mused on sorrow but its own, Unlocks a generous store at thy command, Like Horeb's rocks beneath the prophet's hand.
Page 34 - Oh ! sacred Truth ! thy triumph ceased a while, And HOPE, thy sister, ceased with thee to smile, When leagued Oppression poured to Northern wars Her whiskered...
Page 35 - Heaven ! he cried, my bleeding country save ! Is there no hand on high to shield the brave ? Yet, though destruction sweep these lovely plains, Rise, fellow-men ! our country yet remains ! By that dread name we wave the sword on high ! And swear for her to live ! with her to die...
Page 37 - Departed spirits of the mighty dead ! Ye that at Marathon and Leuctra bled ! Friends of the world...
Page 28 - No lingering hour of sorrow shall be thine ; No sigh that rends thy father's heart and mine ; Bright as his manly sire the son shall be In form and soul ; but, ah ! more blest than he ! Thy fame, thy worth, thy filial love, at last, Shall soothe his aching heart for all the past — With many a smile my solitude repay, And chase the world's ungenerous scorn away.

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