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POEMS
by
Robert Southey
1797
GODDESS of the LYRE! with thee comes
Majestic TRUTH; and where TRUTH deigns to come,
Her sister LIBERTY will not be far.
Akenside.
SONNET.
With wayworn feet a Pilgrim woe-begone
Life's upward road I journeyed many a day,
And hymning many a sad yet soothing lay
Beguil'd my wandering with the charms of song.
Lonely my heart and rugged was my way,
Yet often pluck'd I as I past along
The wild and simple flowers of Poesy,
And as beseem'd the wayward Fancy's child
Entwin'd each random weed that pleas'd mine eye.
Accept the wreath, BELOVED! it is wild
And rudely garlanded; yet scorn not thou
The humble offering, where the sad rue weaves
'Mid gayer flowers its intermingled leaves,
And I have twin'd the myrtle for thy brow.
I have collected in this Volume the productions of very distant periods.The lyric pieces were written in earlier youth; I now think the Ode themost worthless species of composition as well as the most difficult, andshould never again attempt it, even if my future pursuits were such asallowed leisure for poetry. The poems addressed to the heart and theunderstanding are those of my maturer judgment. The Inscriptions will befound to differ from the Greek simplicity of Akenside's in the pointthat generally concludes them. The Sonnets were written first, or Iwould have adopted a different title, and avoided the shackle of rhymeand the confinement to fourteen lines.
CONTENTS
To Mary Wollstonecraft …………. 3
The Triumph of Woman …………… 7
Poems on the Slave-Trade ………. 29
Sonnet 1 …………………….. 33
2 …………………….. 34
3 …………………….. 35
4 …………………….. 36
5 …………………….. 37
6 …………………….. 38
To the Genius of Africa ……….. 39
To my own Miniature Picture ……. 44
The Pauper's Funeral ………….. 47
Ode written on 1st of January ….. 49
Inscription 1 ………………… 55
2 ………………… 56
3 ………………… 57
4 ………………… 59
5 ………………… 61
6 ………………… 62
7 ………………… 63
8 ………………… 64
Birth-Day Ode ………………… 67
Birth-Day Ode ………………… 71
Botany-bay Eclogues …………… 75
Elinor ………………………. 77
Humphrey and William ………….. 83
John, Samuel, and Richard ……… 92
Frederic …………………….. 99
Sonnet 1 ……………………. 107
2 ……………………. 108
3 ……………………. 109
4 ……………………. 110
5 ……………………. 111
6 ……………………. 112
7 ……………………. 113
8 ……………………. 114
9 ……………………. 115
10 ……………………. 116
Sappho ……………………… 121
Ode written on 1st. Dece. …….. 126
Written on Sunday Morning …….. 129
On the death of a favorite
old Spaniel ……………….. 132
To Contemplation …………….. 135
To Horror …………………… 140
The Soldier's Wife …………… 145
The Widow …………………… 147
The Chapel Bell ……………… 149
The Race of Banquo …………… 152
Musings on a landscape of