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Poems

By William Bell Scott. Ballads, Studies from Nature, Sonnets, etc. Illustrated by Seventeen Etchings by the Author and L. Alma Tadema
Scott, William Bell (1811-1890)

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[section]
  
LADY JANET, MAY JEAN.
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KRIEMHILD'S TRYSTE.
 I. 
I
 II. 
II
 III. 
III
  
WOODSTOCK MAZE.
  
THE WITCH'S BALLAD.
  
SAINT MARGARET.
  
THE RENDEZVOUS.
  
I GO TO BE CURED AT AVILION.'
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ANTHONY.
 I. 
[I]
 II. 
II
 III. 
III
 IV. 
IV
  
LOVE'S CALENDAR.
  
A BRIDAL RACE.
  
PARTING AND MEETING AGAIN.
  
LOVE.
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OUTSIDE THE TEMPLE.
 I. 
I BIRTH.
 II. 
II DEATH.
 III. 
III LIFE.
 IV. 
IV GAIN AND LOSS.
 V. 
V LOOKING FORWARD.
 VI. 
VI HOPE DEFERRED.
 VII. 
VII FAITH.
 VIII. 
VIII AT PRESENT.
 IX. 
IX SELF-DECEPTION.
 X. 
X CONTENTMENT IN THE DARK.
 XI. 
XI THE UNIVERSE VOID.
 XII. 
XII SPIRITUAL LONGINGS UNANSWERED.
 XIII. 
XIII DEVELOPMENT IN NATURE.
 XIV. 
XIV SCIENCE ABORTIVE.
 XV. 
XV ONENESS OF ALL.
 XVI. 
XVI A SYMBOL.
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PARTED LOVE.
 I. 
THE PAST.
 II. 
THE PRESENT.
 III. 
MORNING.
 IV. 
BY THE SEA-SIDE.
 V. 
EVENING.
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THE OLD SCOTCH HOUSE
 I. 
I.THE BOWER.
 II. 
II.A SPRING MORNING.
 III. 
III.MOTTOES.
 IV. 
IV.BELOW THE OLD HOUSE.
 V. 
V.THE MOON.
 VI. 
VI.THE GARDEN.
 VII. 
VII.IN THE GARDEN.
 VIII. 
VIII.IN THE GARDEN.
 IX. 
IX.AUTUMN SUNSHINE.
 X. 
X.THE ROBIN'S OCTOBER SONG.
 XI. 
XI.WINTER COMING.
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STUDIES FROM NATURE.
  
SUNDAY MORNING ALONE.
  
GREEN CHERRIES.
  
YOUTH AND AGE.
  
AN ARTIST'S BIRTHPLACE.
  
MORNING SLEEP.
  
MONODY.
  
THE DUKE'S FUNERAL.
  
MIDNIGHT.
  
THE SEA-SHORE.
  
REQUIEM.
  
BEDE IN THE NINETEENTH CENTURY.
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MISCELLANEOUS POEMS.
  
TO THE SPHINX
  
A DEDICATION.
  
A RHYME OF THE SUN-DIAL.
  
IN THE VALLEY.
  
MAY.
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SONNETS ON LITERARY SUBJECTS.
  
ON THE INSCRIPTION, KEATS' TOMBSTONE.
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WORDSWORTH.
 I. 
I
 II. 
II
 III. 
III
  
TO THE ARTISTS CALLED P. R. B.
  
ON CERTAIN CRITICS AT THE BEGINNING OF THE CENTURY.
  
THE EPITAPH OF HUBERT VAN EYCK.
  
FRAGMENT OF A SONNET BY RAPHAEL.
  
THE MUSICIAN.
  
TO MY BROTHER
  
SANDRART'S INSCRIPTION,
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OCCASIONAL SONNETS.
  
PYGMALION.
  
THE SWAN.
  
SPRING LOVE.
  
AN ANNIVERSARY.
  
THE MIDNIGHT CITY.
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KISSES.
 I. 
I
 II. 
II
  
THE TRAVELLER LOST.
  
THE NIGHTINGALE UNHEARD.
  
IN ROME, A.D. 150.
  
COMING AND GOING.
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MY. MOTHER.
  
(ST. LEONARDS, EDINBURGH, 1826.)
  
(PORTOBELLO, NEAR EDINBURGH, 1851.)
  
ASSISTANCE DELAYED.
  
UNWORTHY AMBITION.
  
MUSIC OF THE SPHERES.
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JUVENILE POEMS.
  
TO THE MEMORY OF PERCY BYSSHE SHELLEY.
  
TO THE MEMORY OF JOHN KEATS.
  
THE INCANTATION OF HERVOR.
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FOUR ACTS OF SAINT CUTHBERT.
  
FIRST. SAINT CUTHBERT'S TRIAL OF FAITH.
  
SECOND. SAINT CUTHBERT'S PENANCE.
  
THIRD. SAINT CUTHBERT'S HERMITAGE.
  
FOURTH. SAINT CUTHBERT'S DEATH.
  
THE DANCE OF DEATH.
  
A FABLE.
  
DEDICATIO POSTICA.

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198

KISSES.

I

Within her lips my mistress, then a child,
Held up a crumb to her caged bird; and I,
A stripling, very awkwardly stood by,
Lost in presentiment;—was't but a mild
Girl's coquetry, and was my heart beguiled?
Or was it earnest of the days to be,
When I too, like that linnet, no more free,
By those dear lips am fed and reconciled?
A crumb of bread sometimes—the bread of life,
And sometimes but a worthless sugarplum,
To her new slave those rounded lips present,
Now very gently, then in well-feigned strife;
Beforehand I can't tell what next may come,
So I look forward, very well content.
199

II

Who can tell why Queen Venus raised the dove
To be her bird? Why not the statelier swan,
Seamew or albatross? Our Queen began
In sea sun-smitten, and the wave-foam wove
Her only veil;—What charioteer for Love
Were better, and what lovelier thing is there
Than swan full winged, and for the wilder pair,
Do they not triumph tides and storms above?
I think it must have been the turtle's claim
To the arcane invention of the kiss,
That taught the Golden Age how first to woo!
But now-a-days we would be much to blame,
Needing such lessons in love's lore as this;
So let us hope we are her love-birds too.
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