University of Virginia Library

Search this document 
Poems

By William Bell Scott. Ballads, Studies from Nature, Sonnets, etc. Illustrated by Seventeen Etchings by the Author and L. Alma Tadema
Scott, William Bell (1811-1890)

collapse section 
[section]
  
LADY JANET, MAY JEAN.
collapse section 
KRIEMHILD'S TRYSTE.
 I. 
I
 II. 
II
 III. 
III
  
WOODSTOCK MAZE.
  
THE WITCH'S BALLAD.
  
SAINT MARGARET.
  
THE RENDEZVOUS.
  
I GO TO BE CURED AT AVILION.'
collapse section 
ANTHONY.
 I. 
[I]
 II. 
II
 III. 
III
 IV. 
IV
  
LOVE'S CALENDAR.
  
A BRIDAL RACE.
  
PARTING AND MEETING AGAIN.
  
LOVE.
collapse section 
OUTSIDE THE TEMPLE.
 I. 
I BIRTH.
 II. 
II DEATH.
 III. 
III LIFE.
 IV. 
IV GAIN AND LOSS.
 V. 
V LOOKING FORWARD.
 VI. 
VI HOPE DEFERRED.
 VII. 
VII FAITH.
 VIII. 
VIII AT PRESENT.
 IX. 
IX SELF-DECEPTION.
 X. 
X CONTENTMENT IN THE DARK.
 XI. 
XI THE UNIVERSE VOID.
 XII. 
XII SPIRITUAL LONGINGS UNANSWERED.
 XIII. 
XIII DEVELOPMENT IN NATURE.
 XIV. 
XIV SCIENCE ABORTIVE.
 XV. 
XV ONENESS OF ALL.
 XVI. 
XVI A SYMBOL.
collapse section 
PARTED LOVE.
 I. 
THE PAST.
 II. 
THE PRESENT.
 III. 
MORNING.
 IV. 
BY THE SEA-SIDE.
 V. 
EVENING.
collapse section 
THE OLD SCOTCH HOUSE
 I. 
I.THE BOWER.
 II. 
II.A SPRING MORNING.
 III. 
III.MOTTOES.
 IV. 
IV.BELOW THE OLD HOUSE.
 V. 
V.THE MOON.
 VI. 
VI.THE GARDEN.
 VII. 
VII.IN THE GARDEN.
 VIII. 
VIII.IN THE GARDEN.
 IX. 
IX.AUTUMN SUNSHINE.
 X. 
X.THE ROBIN'S OCTOBER SONG.
 XI. 
XI.WINTER COMING.
collapse section 
STUDIES FROM NATURE.
  
SUNDAY MORNING ALONE.
  
GREEN CHERRIES.
  
YOUTH AND AGE.
  
AN ARTIST'S BIRTHPLACE.
  
MORNING SLEEP.
  
MONODY.
  
THE DUKE'S FUNERAL.
  
MIDNIGHT.
  
THE SEA-SHORE.
  
REQUIEM.
  
BEDE IN THE NINETEENTH CENTURY.
collapse section 
MISCELLANEOUS POEMS.
  
TO THE SPHINX
  
A DEDICATION.
  
A RHYME OF THE SUN-DIAL.
  
IN THE VALLEY.
  
MAY.
collapse section 
SONNETS ON LITERARY SUBJECTS.
  
ON THE INSCRIPTION, KEATS' TOMBSTONE.
collapse section 
WORDSWORTH.
 I. 
I
 II. 
II
 III. 
III
  
TO THE ARTISTS CALLED P. R. B.
  
ON CERTAIN CRITICS AT THE BEGINNING OF THE CENTURY.
  
THE EPITAPH OF HUBERT VAN EYCK.
  
FRAGMENT OF A SONNET BY RAPHAEL.
  
THE MUSICIAN.
  
TO MY BROTHER
  
SANDRART'S INSCRIPTION,
collapse section 
OCCASIONAL SONNETS.
  
PYGMALION.
  
THE SWAN.
  
SPRING LOVE.
  
AN ANNIVERSARY.
  
THE MIDNIGHT CITY.
collapse section 
KISSES.
 I. 
I
 II. 
II
  
THE TRAVELLER LOST.
  
THE NIGHTINGALE UNHEARD.
  
IN ROME, A.D. 150.
  
COMING AND GOING.
collapse section 
MY. MOTHER.
  
(ST. LEONARDS, EDINBURGH, 1826.)
  
(PORTOBELLO, NEAR EDINBURGH, 1851.)
  
ASSISTANCE DELAYED.
  
UNWORTHY AMBITION.
  
MUSIC OF THE SPHERES.
collapse section 
JUVENILE POEMS.
  
TO THE MEMORY OF PERCY BYSSHE SHELLEY.
  
TO THE MEMORY OF JOHN KEATS.
  
THE INCANTATION OF HERVOR.
collapse section 
FOUR ACTS OF SAINT CUTHBERT.
  
FIRST. SAINT CUTHBERT'S TRIAL OF FAITH.
  
SECOND. SAINT CUTHBERT'S PENANCE.
  
THIRD. SAINT CUTHBERT'S HERMITAGE.
  
FOURTH. SAINT CUTHBERT'S DEATH.
  
THE DANCE OF DEATH.
  
A FABLE.
  
DEDICATIO POSTICA.

collapse section Collapse All | Expand All expand section
previous section Poems
next section
86

XIII
DEVELOPMENT IN NATURE.

Walled up in sense, we know no general plan:
Æons long past creative power went on,
Evolving lights and forces round the throne,
And in the ordered nucleus of the plan
Blossomed and brightened the umbrageous span
Of this our world, beneath the Fates' fell care,
The Tree of Life outspreading everywhere,
And seedling fruits from short-lived blooms began.
Have these old mysteries ceased? from fiery steeps,
From deepening swamps the mute snake writhed along;
Anon the bird screamed—then the furred beast creeps
Growling; then Adam speaks erect and strong.
Shall there not rise again from Nature's deeps
One more, whose voice shall be the perfect song?
previous section Poems
next section