Complete Works of Elizabeth Barrett Browning
Page 124
Can send me to the grave apart from fate, —
And no man.. Sweet, I tell thee.. can fly fate —
No good nor bad man. Doom is self-fulfilled.
But now, go home, and ply thy woman’s task
Of wheel and distaff! bid thy maidens haste
Their occupation. War’s a care for men —
For all men born in Troy, and chief for me.”
Thus spake the noble Hector, and resumed
His crested helmet, while his spouse went home;
But as she went, still looked back lovingly,
Dropping the tears from her reverted face.
THE DAUGHTERS OP PANDARUS.
(ODYSS., Lib. XX.)
AND SO these daughters fair of Pandarus,
The whirlwinds took. The gods had slain their kin
They were left orphans in their father’s house.
And Aphrodite came to comfort them
With incense, luscious honey, and fragrant wine;
And Here gave them beauty of face and soul
Beyond all women; purest Artemis
Endowed them with her stature and white grace;
And Pallas taught their hands to flash along
Her famous looms. Then, bright with deity,
Toward far Olympus, Aphrodite went
To ask of Zeus (who has his thunder-joys
And his full knowledge of man’s mingled fate)
How best to crown those other gifts with love
And worthy marriage: but, what time she went,
The ravishing Harpies snatched the maids away,
And gave them up, for all their loving eyes,
To serve the Furies who hate constantly.
ANOTHER VERSION.
So the storms bore the daughters of Pandarus out into thrall —
The gods slew their parents; the orphans were left in the hall.
And there, came, to feed their young lives, Aphrodite divine,
With the incense, the sweet-tasting honey, the sweet-smelling wine;
Here brought them her wit above woman’s, and beauty of face;
And pure Artemis gave them her stature, that form might have grace:
And Athene instructed their hands in her works of renown;
Then, afar to Olympus, divine Aphrodite moved on:
To complete other gifts, by uniting each girl to a mate,
She sought Zeus, who has joy in the thunder and knowledge of fate,
Whether mortals have good chance or ill! But the Harpies alate
In the storm came, and swept off the maidens, and gave them to wait,
With that love in their eyes, on the Furies who constantly hate.
PARAPHRASE ON ANACREON.
ODE TO THE SWALLOW.
THOU indeed, little Swallow,
A sweet yearly comer,
Art building a hollow
New nest every summer,
And straight dost depart
Where no gazing can follow,
Past Memphis, down Nile!
Ah! but Love all the while
Builds his nest in my heart,
Through the cold winter-weeks:
And as one Love takes flight,
Comes another, O Swallow,
In an egg warm and white,
And another is callow.
And the large gaping beaks
Chirp all day and all night:
And the Loves who are older
Help the young and the poor Loves,
And the young Loves grown bolder
Increase by the score Loves —
Why, what can be done?
If a noise comes from one,
Can I bear all this rout of a hundred and more Loves?
PARAPHRASES ON HEINE.
OUT OF MY OWN GREAT WOE.
[THE LAST TRANSLATION.]
Rome, 1860.
I.
I.
OUT of my own great woe
I make my little songs,
Which rustle their feathers in throngs
And beat on her heart even so.
II.
They found the way, for their part,
Yet come again, and complain,
Complain, and are not fain
To say what they saw in her heart.
II.
I.
ART thou indeed so adverse?
Art thou so changed indeed?
Against the woman who wrongs me
I cry to the world in ray need.
II.
O recreant lips unthankful,
How could ye speak evil, say,
Of the man who so well has kissed you
On many a fortunate day?
III.
I.
MY child, we were two children,
Small, merry by childhood’s law;
We used to crawl to the hen-house
And hide ourselves in the straw.
II.
We crowed like cocks, and whenever
The passers near us drew —
Cock-a-doodle! they thought
‘Twas a real cock that crew.
III.
The boxes about our courtyard
We carpeted to our mind,
And lived there both together —
Kept house in a noble kind.
IV.
The neighbour’s old cat often
Came to pay us a visit;
We made her a bow and curtsey,
Each with a compliment in it.
V.
After her health we asked,
Our care and regard to evince —
(We have made the very same speeches
To many an old cat since).
VI.
We also sate and wisely
Discoursed, as old folks do,
Complaining how all went better
In those good times we knew, —
VII.
How love and truth and believing
Had left the world to itself,
And how so dear was the coffee,
And how so rare was the pelf.
VIII.
The children’s games are over,
The rest is over with youth —
The world, the good games, the good times,
The belief, and the love, and the truth.
IV.
I.
THOU lovest me not, thou lovest me not!
‘Tis scarcely worth a sigh:
Let me look in thy face, and no king in his place
Is a gladder man than I.
II.
Thou hatest me well, thou hatest me well —
Thy little red mouth has told:
Let it reach me a kiss, and, however it is,
My child, I am well consoled.
V.
I.
MY own sweet Love, if thou in the grave,
The darksome grave, wilt be,
Then will I go down by the side, and crave
Love-room for thee and me.
II.
I kiss and caress and press thee wild,
Thou still, thou cold, thou white!
I wail, I tremble, and weeping mild,
Turn to a corpse at the right.
III.
The Dead stand up, the midnight calls,
They dance in airy swarms —
We two keep still where the grave-shade falls,
And I lie on in thine arms.
IV.
The Dead stand up, the Judgment-day
Bids such to weal or woe —
But nought shall trouble us where we stay
Embraced and embracing below.
VI.
I.
THE years they come and go,
The races drop in the grave,
Yet never the love doth so,
Which here in my heart I have.
II.
Could I see thee but once, one day,
And sink down so on my knee,
And die in thy
sight while I say,
‘Lady, I love but thee!’
The Poems
50 Wimpole Street, London, where Robert Browning first met Elizabeth Barrett, who was living with her father.
List of Poems in Chronological Order
BATTLE OF MARATHON: BOOK I.
BATTLE OF MARATHON: BOOK II
BATTLE OF MARATHON: BOOK III.
BATTLE OF MARATHON: BOOK IV.
AN ESSAY ON MIND. BOOK I.
AN ESSAY ON MIND. BOOK II.
TO MY FATHER ON HIS BIRTH-DAY.
SPENSERIAN STANZAS ON A BOY OF THREE YEARS OLD.
VERSES TO MY BROTHER.
STANZAS ON THE DEATH OF LORD BYRON.
MEMORY.
TO ——
STANZAS OCCASIONED BY A PASSAGE IN MR. EMERSON’S JOURNAL
THE PAST.
THE PRAYER.
ON A PICTURE OF RIEGO’S WIDOW, PLACED IN THE EXHIBITION.
WEEP, AS IF YOU THOUGHT OF LAUGHTER!
THE DREAM.
RIGA’S LAST SONG.
THE VISION OF FAME.
THE TEMPEST.
A SEA-SIDE MEDITATION.
A VISION OF LIFE AND DEATH.
EARTH.
THE PICTURE GALLERY AT PENSHURST.
TO A POET’S CHILD.
MINSTRELSY.
TO THE MEMORY OF SIR UVEDALE PRICE, BART.
THE AUTUMN.
THE DEATH-BED OF TERESA DEL RIEGO.
TO VICTOIRE, ON HER MARRIAGE.
TO A BOY.
REMONSTRANCE.
REPLY.
EPITAPH.
THE IMAGE OF GOD.
THE APPEAL.
IDOLS.
HYMN.
WEARINESS.
PROMETHEUS BOUND (1833 VERSION)
PROMETHEUS BOUND (1850 VERSION)
SERAPHIM. PART THE FIRST.
SERAPHIM. PART THE SECOND.
SERAPHIM. EPILOGUE.
A DRAMA OF EXILE
A LAMENT FOR ADONIS
QUEEN ANNELIDA AND FALSE ARCITE.
THE COMPLAINT OF ANNELIDA TO FALSE ARCITE.
A VISION OF POETS
THE POET’S VOW
THE ROMAUNT OF MARGRET.
ISOBEL’S CHILD.
THE ROMAUNT OF THE PAGE.
THE LAY OF THE BROWN ROSARY.
A ROMANCE OF THE GANGES.
RHYME OF THE DUCHESS MAY.
THE ROMANCE OF THE SWAN’S NEST.
BERTHA IN THE LANE.
LADY GERALDINE’S COURTSHIP:
THE RUNAWAY SLAVE AT PILGRIM’S POINT.
THE CRY OF THE CHILDREN.
A CHILD ASLEEP.
THE FOURFOLD ASPECT.
NIGHT AND THE MERRY MAN.
EARTH AND HER PRAISERS.
THE VIRGIN MARY TO THE CHILD JESUS.
AN ISLAND.
THE SOUL’S TRAVELLING.
TO BETTINE, THE CHILD-FRIEND OF GOETHE.
MAN AND NATURE.
A SEA-SIDE WALK.
THE SEA-MEW.
FELICIA HEMANS
L. E. L.’S LAST QUESTION.
CROWNED AND WEDDED.
CROWNED AND BURIED.
TO FLUSH, MY DOG.
THE DESERTED GARDEN.
MY DOVES.
HECTOR IN THE GARDEN.
SLEEPING AND WATCHING.
SOUNDS.
THE LOST BOWER.
A SONG AGAINST SINGING.
WINE OF CYPRUS.
A RHAPSODY OF LIFE’S PROGRESS.
A LAY OF THE EARLY ROSE.
THE POET AND THE BIRD.
THE CRY OF THE HUMAN.
A PORTRAIT.
CONFESSIONS.
LOVED ONCE.
THE HOUSE OF CLOUDS.
A SABBATH MORNING AT SEA.
A FLOWER IN A LETTER.
THE MASK.
CALLS ON THE HEART.
WISDOM UNAPPLIED.
MEMORY AND HOPE.
HUMAN LIFE’S MYSTERY.
A CHILD’S THOUGHT OF GOD.
THE CLAIM.
SONG OF THE ROSE.
A DEAD ROSE.
THE EXILE’S RETURN.
THE SLEEP.
THE MEASURE.
COWPER’S GRAVE.
THE WEAKEST THING.
THE PET-NAME.
THE MOURNING MOTHER OF THE DEAD BLIND
A VALEDICTION.
LESSONS FROM THE GORSE.
THE LADY’S “YES.”
A WOMAN’S SHORTCOMINGS.
A MAN’S REQUIREMENTS.
A YEAR’S SPINNING.
CHANGE UPON CHANGE.
THAT DAY.
A REED.
THE DEAD PAN.
A CHILD’S GRAVE AT FLORENCE.
CATARINA TO CAMOENS
LIFE AND LOVE.
A DENIAL.
PROOF AND DISPROOF.
QUESTION AND ANSWER.
INCLUSIONS.
INSUFFICIENCY.
THE LITTLE FRIEND.
THE STUDENT.
STANZAS: I MAY SING; BUT MINSTREL’S SINGING.
THE YOUNG QUEEN.
VICTORIA’S TEARS.
VANITIES.
A SUPPLICATION FOR LOVE.
THE MEDIATOR.
THE WEEPING SAVIOUR.
I THOUGHT ONCE HOW THEOCRITUS HAD SUNG
BUT ONLY THREE IN ALL GOD’S UNIVERSE
UNLIKE ARE WE, UNLIKE, O PRINCELY HEART!
THOU HAST THY CALLING TO SOME PALACE-FLOOR
I LIFT MY HEAVY HEART UP SOLEMNLY
GO FROM ME. YET I FEEL THAT I SHALL STAND
THE FACE OF ALL THE WORLD IS CHANGED, I THINK
WHAT CAN I GIVE THEE BACK, O LIBERAL
CAN IT BE RIGHT TO GIVE WHAT I CAN GIVE?
YET, LOVE, MERE LOVE, IS BEAUTIFUL INDEED
AND THEREFORE IF TO LOVE CAN BE DESERT
INDEED THIS VERY LOVE WHICH IS MY BOAST
AND WILT THOU HAVE ME FASHION INTO SPEECH
IF THOU MUST LOVE ME, LET IT BE FOR NOUGHT
ACCUSE ME NOT, BESEECH THEE, THAT I WEAR
AND YET, BECAUSE THOU OVERCOMEST SO
MY POET, THOU CANST TOUCH ON ALL THE NOTES
I NEVER GAVE A LOCK OF HAIR AWAY
THE SOUL’S RIALTO HATH ITS MERCHANDISE
BELOVED, MY BELOVED, WHEN I THINK
SAY OVER AGAIN, AND YET ONCE OVER AGAIN
WHEN OUR TWO SOULS STAND UP ERECT AND STRONG
IS IT INDEED SO? IF I LAY HERE DEAD
LET THE WORLD’S SHARPNESS, LIKE A CLASPING KNIFE
A HEAVY HEART, BELOVED, HAVE I BORNE
I LIVED WITH VISIONS FOR MY COMPANY
MY OWN BELOVED, WHO HAST LIFTED ME
MY LETTERS! ALL DEAD PAPER, MUTE AND WHITE!
I THINK OF THEE! — MY THOUGHTS DO TWINE AND BUD
THE FIRST TIME THAT THE SUN ROSE ON THINE OATH
YES, CALL ME BY MY PET-NAME! LET ME HEAR
WITH THE SAME HEART, I SAID, I’LL ANSWER THEE
IF I LEAVE ALL FOR THEE, WILT THOU EXCHANGE
WHEN WE MET FIRST AND LOVED, I DID NOT BUILD
PARDON, OH, PARDON, THAT MY SOUL SHOULD MAKE
FIRST TIME HE KISSED ME, HE BUT ONLY KISSED
BECAUSE THOU HAST THE POWER AND OWN’ST THE GRACE
OH, YES! THEY LOVE THROUGH ALL THIS WORLD OF OURS!
I THANK ALL WHO HAVE LOVED ME IN THEIR HEARTS
MY FUTURE WILL NOT COPY FAIR MY PAST —
HOW DO I LOVE THEE? LET ME COUNT THE WAYS
BELOVED, THOU HAST BROUGHT ME MANY FLOWERS
THE SOUL’S EXPRESSION.
THE SERAPH AND POET.
ON A PORTRAIT OF WORDSWORTH BY B. R. HAYDON.
PAST AND FUTURE.
IRREPARABLENESS.
TEARS.
GRIEF.
SUBSTITUTION.
COMFORT.
PERPLEXED MUSIC.
WORK.
FUTURITY.
THE TWO SAYINGS.
THE LOOK.
THE MEANING OF THE LOOK.
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A THOUGHT FOR A LONELY DEATH-BED.
WORK AND CONTEMPLATION.
PAIN IN PLEASURE.
AN APPREHENSION.
DISCONTENT.
PATIENCE TAUGHT BY NATURE.
CHEERFULNESS TAUGHT BY REASON.
EXAGGERATION.
ADEQUACY.
TO GEORGE SAND.
TO GEORGE SAND.
THE PRISONER.
INSUFFICIENCY.
TWO SKETCHES.
MOUNTAINEER AND POET.
THE POET.
HIRAM POWERS’ “GREEK SLAVE.”
LIFE.
LOVE.
HEAVEN AND EARTH.
THE PROSPECT.
HUGH STUART BOYD.
HUGH STUART BOYD.
HUGH STUART BOYD.
CASA GUIDI WINDOWS. PART I.
CASA GUIDI WINDOWS. PART II.
AURORA LEIGH. FIRST BOOK.
AURORA LEIGH. SECOND BOOK.
AURORA LEIGH. THIRD BOOK.
AURORA LEIGH. FOURTH BOOK.
AURORA LEIGH. FIFTH BOOK.
AURORA LEIGH. SIXTH BOOK.
AURORA LEIGH. SEVENTH BOOK.
AURORA LEIGH. EIGHTH BOOK.
AURORA LEIGH. NINTH BOOK
NAPOLEON III. IN ITALY.
THE DANCE.
A TALE OF VILLAFRANCA.
A COURT LADY.
AN AUGUST VOICE.
CHRISTMAS GIFTS.
ITALY AND THE WORLD.
A CURSE FOR A NATION.
LITTLE MATTIE.
A FALSE STEP.
VOID IN LAW.
LORD WALTER’S WIFE.
BIANCA AMONG THE NIGHTINGALES.
MY KATE.
A SONG FOR THE RAGGED SCHOOL OF LONDON.
MAY’S LOVE.
AMY’S CRUELTY.
MY HEART AND I.
THE BEST THING IN THE WORLD.
WHERE’S AGNES?
DE PROFUNDIS.
A MUSICAL INSTRUMENT.
FIRST NEWS FROM VILLAFRANCA.
KING VICTOR EMANUEL ENTERING FLORENCE, APRIL, 1860.
THE SWORD OF CASTRUCCIO CASTRACANI.
SUMMING UP IN ITALY.
DIED...
THE FORCED RECRUIT.
GARIBALDI.
ONLY A CURL.
A VIEW ACROSS THE ROMAN CAMPAGNA.
THE KING’S GIFT.
PARTING LOVERS.