Sixty-Five Sonnets With Prefatory Remarks on the Accordance of the Sonnet with the Powers of the English Language: Also, A Few Miscellaneous Poems [by Thomas Doubleday] |
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 | Sixty-Five Sonnets |  |
41
XV.
Deplore ye not his fate, though he hath dealtIn woe, and often shed the bitter rain;
He is not luckless though he may complain,
And long with ill and poverty hath dwelt;
The poet who would make another melt
Himself must know well the dissolving vein,
And pathos must be purchased still with pain;
For he can ne'er describe who hath not felt.
Misfortune's torrent, which no courage stems;
Despair's stagnation, and distraction's whirl;
Insults that fire, humilities that freeze;
Are genius' elements;—her purest gems
By such extremes are nurtured, as the pearl
Itself is but the creature of disease.
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