The Poetical Works of George Barlow In Ten [Eleven] Volumes |
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| II. |
| III. |
| IV. |
| V. |
| VI. |
| VII. |
| VIII. |
 | IX. |
THE WOMANHOOD OF FRANCE
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| X. |
| XI. |
 | The Poetical Works of George Barlow |  |
38
THE WOMANHOOD OF FRANCE
The womanhood of France is travestied,
Held up to scorn
By the lewd Art of France. Yet many a heart
In France is nobler than all Gallic Art:
Love hath not wholly died,
Though love may mourn.
Held up to scorn
By the lewd Art of France. Yet many a heart
In France is nobler than all Gallic Art:
Love hath not wholly died,
Though love may mourn.
Though sweet-lipped harlots on the Gallic stage
Still hold their own,
Sweet-lipped, sweet-bosomed, but with hearts as black
And deadly as the midnight's moonless rack,
Yet Hugo thrilled the age
With sound as of a sudden trumpet blown.
Still hold their own,
Sweet-lipped, sweet-bosomed, but with hearts as black
And deadly as the midnight's moonless rack,
Yet Hugo thrilled the age
With sound as of a sudden trumpet blown.
39
Hugo, with Shakespeare's sweetness in his eyes,
And in his heart
A strength as of the Northern waves that break,
Sang how pure love for love's own deathless sake
Can face death's flaming skies:
His was the Art
And in his heart
A strength as of the Northern waves that break,
Sang how pure love for love's own deathless sake
Can face death's flaming skies:
His was the Art
Of England in some sort, the Art that knows
How more divine
Than passion's wildest most delirious breath
And more triumphant over utmost death
Is noble love that grows
To kingly stature in the soul's deep shrine.
How more divine
Than passion's wildest most delirious breath
And more triumphant over utmost death
Is noble love that grows
To kingly stature in the soul's deep shrine.
Dec. 13, 1885.
| The Poetical Works of George Barlow | |