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The Poems of Algernon Charles Swinburne

In Six Volumes
Swinburne, Algernon Charles (1837-1909)

expand sectionI. 
VOLUME I POEMS AND BALLADS
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VOLUME II. SONGS BEFORE SUNRISE AND SONGS OF TWO NATIONS
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VOLUME III POEMS AND BALLADS AND SONGS OF THE SPRINGTIDES
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VOLUME IV TRISTRAM OF LYONESSE. THE TALE OF BALEN. ATALANTA IN CALYDON. ERECHTHEUS
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VOLUME V STUDIES IN SONG. A CENTURY OF ROUNDELS. SONNETS ON ENGLISH DRAMATIC POETS. THE HEPTALOGIA ETC.
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STUDIES IN SONG
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A CENTURY OF ROUNDELS
  
ATHENS:
  
THE STATUE OF VICTOR HUGO
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SONNETS
  
HOPE AND FEAR
  
AFTER SUNSET
  
A STUDY FROM MEMORY
  
TO DR. JOHN BROWN
  
TO WILLIAM BELL SCOTT
  
A DEATH ON EASTER DAY
  
ON THE DEATHS OF THOMAS CARLYLE AND GEORGE ELIOT
  
AFTER LOOKING INTO CARLYLE'S REMINISCENCES
  
A LAST LOOK
  
DICKENS
  
ON LAMB'S SPECIMENS OF DRAMATIC POETS
  
TO JOHN NICHOL
  
DYSTHANATOS
  
EUONYMOS
  
ON THE RUSSIAN PERSECUTION OF THE JEWS
  
BISMARCK AT CANOSSA
  
QUIA NOMINOR LEO
  
THE CHANNEL TUNNEL
  
SIR WILLIAM GOMM
  
EUTHANATOS
  
FIRST AND LAST
  
LINES ON THE DEATH OF EDWARD JOHN TRELAWNY
  
ADIEUX À MARIE STUART
  
HERSE
  
TWINS
  
THE SALT OF THE EARTH
  
SEVEN YEARS OLD
  
EIGHT YEARS OLD
  
COMPARISONS
  
WHAT IS DEATH?
  
A CHILD'S PITY
  
A CHILD'S LAUGHTER
  
A CHILD'S THANKS
  
A CHILD'S BATTLES
  
A CHILD'S FUTURE
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SONNETS ON ENGLISH DRAMATIC POETS
  
A DARK MONTH
  
SUNRISE
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THE HEPTALOGIA
expand sectionVI. 
VOLUME VI A MIDSUMMER HOLIDAY. ASTROPHEL. A CHANNEL PASSAGE. AND OTHER POEMS

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227

HOPE AND FEAR

Beneath the shadow of dawn's aerial cope,
With eyes enkindled as the sun's own sphere,
Hope from the front of youth in godlike cheer
Looks Godward, past the shades where blind men grope
Round the dark door that prayers nor dreams can ope,
And makes for joy the very darkness dear
That gives her wide wings play; nor dreams that fear
At noon may rise and pierce the heart of hope.
Then, when the soul leaves off to dream and yearn,
May truth first purge her eyesight to discern
What once being known leaves time no power to appal;
Till youth at last, ere yet youth be not, learn
The kind wise word that falls from years that fall—
“Hope thou not much, and fear thou not at all.”
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