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Poems by Alan Seeger

with an introduction by William Archer
Seeger, Alan (1886-1916)

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JUVENILIA 1914
  
AN ODE TO NATURAL BEAUTY
  
THE DESERTED GARDEN
  
THE TORTURE OF CUAUHTEMOC
  
THE NYMPHOLEPT
  
THE WANDERER
  
THE NEED TO LOVE
  
EL EXTRAVIADO
  
LA NUE
  
ALL THAT'S NOT LOVE ...
  
PARIS
  
THE SULTAN'S PALACE
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FRAGMENTS
 1. 
I
 2. 
II
 3. 
III
 4. 
IV
 1. 
SONNET I
 2. 
SONNET II
 3. 
SONNET III
 4. 
SONNET IV
 5. 
SONNET V
 6. 
SONNET VI
 7. 
SONNET VII
 8. 
SONNET VIII
 9. 
SONNET IX
 10. 
SONNET X
 11. 
SONNET XI
 12. 
SONNET XII
 13. 
SONNET XIII
 14. 
SONNET XIV
 15. 
SONNET XV
 16. 
SONNET XVI
  
KYRENAÏKOS
  
ANTINOUS
  
VIVIEN
  
I LOVED ...
  
VIRGINIBUS PUERISQUE ...
  
WITH A COPY OF SHAKESPEARE'S SONNETS ON LEAVING COLLEGE
  
WRITTEN IN A VOLUME OF THE COMTESSE DE NOAILLES
  
COUCY
  
TEZCOTZINCO
  
THE OLD LOWE HOUSE, STATEN ISLAND
  
ONEATA
  
ON THE CLIFFS, NEWPORT
  
TO ENGLAND AT THE OUTBREAK OF THE BALKAN WAR
  
AT THE TOMB OF NAPOLEON BEFORE THE ELECTIONS IN AMERICA—NOVEMBER, 1912
  
THE RENDEZVOUS
  
DO YOU REMEMBER ONCE ...
  
THE BAYADERE
  
EUDÆMON
  
BROCELIANDE
  
LYONESSE
  
TITHONUS
  
AN ODE TO ANTARES
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LAST POEMS 1916
  
THE AISNE (1914–15)
  
CHAMPAGNE, 1914–15
  
THE HOSTS
  
MAKTOOB
  
I HAVE A RENDEZVOUS WITH DEATH ...
 1. 
SONNET I
 2. 
SONNET II
 3. 
SONNET III
 4. 
SONNET IV
 5. 
SONNET V
 6. 
SONNET VI
 7. 
SONNET VII
 8. 
SONNET VIII
 9. 
SONNET IX
 10. 
SONNET X
 11. 
SONNET XI
 12. 
SONNET XII
  
BELLINGLISE
  
LIEBESTOD
  
RESURGAM
  
A MESSAGE TO AMERICA
  
INTRODUCTION AND CONCLUSION OF A LONG POEM
  
ODE IN MEMORY OF THE AMERICAN VOLUNTEERS FALLEN FOR FRANCE

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78

SONNET XI

When among creatures fair of countenance
Love comes enformed in such proud character,
So far as other beauty yields to her,
So far the breast with fiercer longing pants;
I bless the spot, and hour, and circumstance,
That wed desire to a thing so high,
And say, Glad soul, rejoice, for thou and I
Of bliss unpaired are made participants;
Hence have come ardent thoughts and waking dreams
That, feeding Fancy from so sweet a cup,
Leave it no lust for gross imaginings.
Through her the woman's perfect beauty gleams
That while it gazes lifts the spirit up
To that high source from which all beauty springs.
 

A paraphrase of Petrarca, Quando fra l'altre donne...

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