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University of Virginia Library

My Sonnets

[by W. C. Bennett]

Bennett, W. C. (1820-1895)

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THE ANCIENT MYTHOLOGY.

APHRODITE AND ZEUS.

SPERTHIES AND BULIS.

THE TEN THOUSAND IN SIGHT OF THE EUXINE.

ALEXANDER THE GREAT.

ALEXANDER THE GREAT.

LUTHER'S DISCOVERY OF A BIBLE AT ERFURTH.

['Twas worthy Laud, for 'twas a bigot's thought]

THE EMIGRATION OF THREE THOUSAND PURITANS FROM NORWICH TO ESCAPE THE PERSECUTION OF LAUD.

THE VESSEL, BOUND FOR AMERICA, DETAINED BY CHARLES I, HAVING ON BOARD PYM, HAMPDEN, AND CROMWELL.

THE PARTING OF PYM AND STRAFFORD.

CHARLES THE FIRST.

MARVELL'S REJECTION OF THE BRIBE.

WASHINGTON'S SALE OF HIS NURSE.

NAPOLEON AT THE TOMB OF FREDERICK THE GREAT.

HAYDON'S NAPOLEON AT ST HELENA.

WRITTEN ON READING SILVIO PELLICO'S IMPRISONMENTS.

WRITTEN ON READING THE FOREGOING SONNET.

[My books! my books! your very names my tongue]

BUCKHARDT READING ROBINSON CRUSOE TO HIS ARABS IN THE DESERT.

[Above dominions, high o'er sceptred kings]

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WRITTEN ON SHOOTER'S HILL.

WRITTEN IN GREENWICH PARK.

[Mourn for the leaves, the infants of the spring]

[Mourn for the leaves, that the white clouds of June]

WRITTEN IN KNOWLE PARK.

[Answer, ye glorious worlds that tread in light]

WRITTEN AT HASTINGS.

WRITTEN IN GREENWICH PARK.

[Hate none, though the wild cry of blood should ring]

[Hate none, but do thou rather pity those]

[Scorn none, but look upon the poor, the low]

[Judge none, for know your vision is all blind]

[By our own standard do we measure men]

[Vain of thy titled name, laugh not the low]

[Holier is love than wisdom, if the wise]

[Do good and cease not, though the pleasant praise]

[Envy their eyes to sightless blindness sears]

[Strength-eating toil lays its cold grasp on life]

[Is man made but for toil? “Yes,” do they say]

['Tis false, God made not man for toil alone]

[By the sweet beauty of yon bending sky,—]

[Content!—O hate it, for it is a thing]

[To tread the earth not far above the brutes]

[For what do we, to trade, our best days sell?]

[O, many an hour, my restless thoughts would dwell]

[Say, what is it to live, thou child of clay?]

[Who truly lives?—Man, fleeting shadow, tell.]

[When cherished hope becomes reality]

[The riddle of existence, ponder. What]

[Dust unto dust!—The breathing form, that trod]

[Of this be sure, the false shall surely die]

[What is the leash you strain on? Why not slip]

[Fame for the prize, what holds you from the race?]

WITH A FAREWELL PRESENT.

[Still dwell with me sweet Hope and Memory.]

[Sweet Poesy, oh, do thou not disdain]

[I love a laugh,—of all things, I love best]

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CHRISTMAS SONGS.

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[Can he, the frail, weak, child of clay,—]

[Where is the majesty by earth]

THERE IS BEAUTY IN ALL.

THE FACTORY-CHILD'S MAY-DAY SONG.

THE STARVING MAN'S PRAYER.

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NAPOLEON AT THE TOMB OF FREDERICK THE GREAT.

Awake! Arise! why slumberest thou below,
Thou terror of the nations? In the gloom,
The dusky twilight, that enshrouds thy tomb,
Stands one who dares to call thy land his foe,—
One who hath trod on Prussia. Wak'st thou? No.
In peace thou sleepest with thy glory: whom
The earth hath dreaded, share with thee the doom
That tracks alike the lofty and the low.
What didst thou for thy race? War, and the woe
That waits on war, dwelt on the earth with thee;
Thy tread made desolate fair lands, and so
Thy memory darkens. And shall thy name be
Upon the tongues of men, when earth shall know
His fame no more?—Go, ponder, conqueror, go.

November 17th, 1842.