[Poems by Lowell in] American Literature A Journal of Literary History, Criticism, and Bibliography : volume XXXV number 3 November 1963 |
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 | [Poems by Lowell in] American Literature |  |
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XIX
When through the night I sleepless lie,
By Fancy's light Caduceus led
A visionary troop steals by,
Shapes of the distant or the dead.
By Fancy's light Caduceus led
A visionary troop steals by,
Shapes of the distant or the dead.
But one fair form, one peerless face,
Though called with tears, is called in vain;
That radiance of elusive grace
Mocks the dull pencils of the brain.
Though called with tears, is called in vain;
That radiance of elusive grace
Mocks the dull pencils of the brain.
In a notebook of Lowell's recently loaned to Houghton Library by Dr. Francis Lowell Burnett, Lowell's grandson. The poem is dated Aug. 10, 1882, and is signed “J. R. L.,” but the manuscript is not in Lowell's hand. There is no way of being certain, but the poem may refer to Lowell's first wife, Maria, who died of tuberculosis in 1853.
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